Seattle cops

[Doug Henwood]

I've been pretty out of touch, so I don't know if this has gotten 
wide coverage. If it has, my apologies. But yesterday's Seattle 
Post-Intelligencer had an interview with a cop who said that Mayor 
Paul Schell was convinced nothing terrible would happen, and wanted 
to carry off the WTO meeting with a minimal police presence. The city 
was grossly understocked with tear gas and pepper spray, and refused 
offers of outside help from other police forces and the governor.

There's something to be said for liberals. Had Rudy Giuliani been 
running the show there would have been nothing: he would have 
surrounded downtown with tens of thousands of cops, denied all parade 
permits, and, on the off chance that something happened, would have 
had heads cracked more quickly and more severely than we saw on 
Tuesday and Wednesday. No doubt other authorities will lean towards 
the Rudy approach after the events of the past week.

Doug