I'm still trying to confirm the rumor that one of our anarchists is up on felony charges for spitting on Ramsey.
Chuck0
Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> [via Michael Eisenscher]
>
> Nice Cop-Tough Cop Tactic Paid Off for District Police
> By Arthur Santana
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Thursday, April 20, 2000; Page B01
>
> The call went out around midnight on Mobilization Radio, the pirate
> station that aired messages to the activists: Meet in Dupont Circle
> at 4 a.m. for some street action against the World Bank.
>
> Protesters had hoped to outsmart the police, by starting so early.
> But when they began converging on Dupont in a driving rain Monday
> morning, a half-dozen patrol cars were parked around the circle.
> Unmarked cars staked out adjacent streets.
>
> Once again, the D.C. police seemed to know what protesters were up to
> before the protesters themselves did.
>
> "Let's go . . .," said a dispirited young woman with a garbage bag
> for a raincoat, and the demonstrators melted into the soggy dawn.
>
> In the struggle between police and protesters over the past two
> weeks, that is how it has gone. Behind vivid images of Police Chief
> Charles H. Ramsey with a rose, or of black-bandanna-wearing activists
> beating plastic garbage pails, there was a constant current of solid
> police work, undercover gambits, informants, intimidation, guile and
> testing the limits of legality.
>
> The tactics used, from surveillance to confrontation to keeping
> protesters in jail for long hours, kept the city safe and the
> protesters frustrated and complaining that their rights had been
> violated or that they had been beaten and bloodied.
>
> The success of police tactics has led to the glow of victory for the
> oft-beleaguered Metropolitan Police Department and for its chief of
> two years.
>
> Ramsey and Executive Assistant Chief Terrance W. Gainer know just how
> different this week could have been. When the same protests hit
> Seattle late last year, the city erupted in tear gas, beatings and
> disarray of the police force. Both the chief and one of the Seattle
> deputies are gone, retired.
>
> "I think [Ramsey] was probably the best prepared police chief I've
> ever seen," said Gerald Arenberg, a 70-year-old retired police
> officer who is familiar with D.C. police and is the spokesman for the
> National Association of Chiefs of Police. "He used the resources of
> several other police agencies to break the back of the protesters."
>
> It didn't just happen. Ramsey and Gainer said intensive training for
> 1,500 officers made their force ready. The city ordered gear. The
> force worked extreme hours. At times, officers shoved and pushed and
> in several instances beat protesters with their batons. At other
> times, they blocked streets and let protesters march, or they faded
> into the background or stopped traffic so the parade could pass.
>
> "This was a turning point for the department, sworn and civilian,"
> Ramsey said. "We're all on cloud nine."
>
> The Dupont Circle incident was not the only one in which police
> seemed to have superior intelligence. Law enforcement agencies have
> monitored the group's vast network of Internet sites and pirate radio
> since Seattle and the group's announcement that the nation's capital
> was next. Gainer hinted that police had infiltrated the marches. "Not
> every one of our officers was in uniform," he said. "We didn't have
> any police officers dressed as trees, either."
>
> He said that police were on rooftops and in helicopters watching
> protesters' movements and that additional information came from
> protesters who didn't want violence.
>
> In addition to Dupont Circle, other incidents showed the fruit of the
> efforts. Last week, seven protesters were stopped by D.C. police
> intelligence section and charged with conspiracy to commit a crime
> and possessing up to 300 implements that could be used to block
> traffic.
>
> On Friday, D.C. police searched a house in the Kalorama section and
> seized similar devices and arrested three on charges of possessing
> "implements of crime."
>
> The next day, fire investigators showed up at the protesters'
> headquarters off Florida Avenue NW. There, they shut down the
> "convergence center," the warehouse where the protesters had checked
> in and then gathered to train, to strategize, to eat.
>
> Ramsey and Gainer maintained the raid was not part of their strategy,
> but was welcome. "When it was brought to our attention that there was
> serious fire violations, and the fire inspector said they were going
> to go in there and shut it down . . . we started licking our chops,"
> Gainer said. "It would be helpful to us if we discombobulated the
> protesters."
>
> That tactic brought criticism from demonstrators and a complaint that
> police twisted the truth to make the protesters look bad.
>
> "Chief Ramsey and . . . Gainer have been lying to the press," said
> organizer Han Shan. He complained that police said they had evidence
> and then backed down, well after the information had been aired.
>
> Shan said that after the raid on the Florida Avenue NW headquarters,
> police told reporters a Molotov cocktail had been found but later
> said it wasn't what they thought. Officials with the Bureau of
> Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms later said the device was harmless.
>
> Shan said that after the raid on the protest headquarters, police
> also claimed protesters were making homemade pepper spray there. They
> were merely cooking supplies, he said.
>
> The night after the raid on the convergence center, police made a
> highly controversial arrest sweep, picking up more than 600 people
> and keeping them in jail and off the streets for up to 23 hours,
> letting some out just in time to comply with the law.
>
> That effectively kept many off the streets for the beginning of
> Sunday's major demonstration.
>
> Then, on Sunday, a man wearing a black bandanna was singled out by
> police in a sea of protesters and found with bottles of gasoline in
> his backpack, Ramsey said. How did they discover the one person with
> lethal possessions in the middle of the crowd? Yesterday, they
> indicated that other protesters had fingered him.
>
> Such pro-active police work is essential to a successful plan, said
> Robert Scully, executive director of the National Association of
> Police Organizations. "I can only imagine that Chief Ramsey, and
> probably working with some of the federal agencies in D.C., was
> successful in infiltrating some of the groups . . . and had
> firsthand, inside information of who, when, why, and where things
> were going to happen," Scully said. He said police did an
> "outstanding" job.
>
> The protests, from the end of the Seattle mayhem, have spawned a
> network of intelligence on this group. Leaders of the protests were
> clearly known to officers from Boston, New York, and Canada who were
> on hand to watch.
>
> On Sunday and then on Monday, police showed off their training. They
> used a sort of rope-a-dope tactic, rushing into a crowd at one point,
> backing away and leaving the scene moments later. One New York
> officer who was observing, said: "The strategy is to contain them
> long enough that they run out of gas. If they're not doing anything
> violent, it's best to just let them demonstrate."
>
> When protesters blocked 14th Street and New York Avenue NW, police
> stood by and watched. When a band plugged in its electric guitars and
> began playing at Farragut Square without a permit, police just
> smiled. A beach ball, gently tossed over to police, was bopped right
> back into the crowd.
>
> This pick-your-battles tactic was one Gainer had urged during
> training for the protests. "Don't get crucified on a small cross,"
> Gainer had said. Police occasionally even showed brief flairs of
> humor. Officers at times joined in on the protesters' rallying cry,
> "Whose streets? Our Streets!"
>
> Reaching out to other agencies aided the department's success, said
> Arlington Police Chief Edward A. Flynn. One of the mistakes in
> Seattle, he said, was a lack of coordination with other police
> agencies. Ramsey didn't hesitate to call upon the dozens of police
> agencies in the area--even beyond the District.
>
> For the first time ever, D.C. police invoked a mutual aid agreement
> with suburban police, turning over responsibility for the bridges on
> the Virginia side of the Potomac to the Arlington police, Flynn said.
>
> To enable county officers to enforce D.C. laws, U.S. marshals
> deputized about 200 Arlington police officers--about two-thirds of
> the force--as federal agents.
>
> Dozens of other police agencies were also readied, such as the U.S.
> Park Police, the U.S. Secret Service, the Capitol Police, and the
> FBI. On Sunday night, Ramsey called for the D.C. National Guard.
>
> Everyone from city officials, national media and the police union has
> commended Ramsey. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) wrote to
> say that she would work to get the city $5 million to defray its
> expenses.
>
> Not everyone was happy. Shan ridiculed Ramsey's claim that protesters
> were dressing up as police officers and hitting others. "Come on,
> you've got to be kidding me!" he said.
>
> Others complained of police abuse on the lines, being hit with pepper
> spray, manhandled or being clubbed with batons. Yesterday, about 140
> were still in jail, and lawyers were negotiating a settlement. Many
> of those jailed were still refusing to give their names.
>
> A contingent of about 50 maintained a vigil outside.
>
> But the self-assessment of the police department was seen in an
> unheralded moment Tuesday morning.
>
> At the World Bank, Ramsey and Gainer were removing metal barriers
> from where they had stood and negotiated. They looked at each other
> and, as though toasting each other, bumped their fists. "Gainer,"
> Ramsey said, his arm around his assistant, "we've got ourselves a
> police department now."
>
> Staff writers Petula Dvorak, Cindy Loose, Patricia Davis, Stephen C.
> Fehr, David Montgomery and Linda Wheeler contributed to this report.
-- << Chuck0 >>
This was the year *everything* changed.
-- Commander Ivanova, 2261
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