[mgj-discuss] Police Memos Say Arrest Tactics Calmed Protest

[robert weissman]

I agree with Morrigan. The deployment of a massive police presence and 
the police militarization of protest monitoring has a huge deterrent 
effect on public turnout and participation. That's easy to forget for 
seasoned protesters, but for people who don't regularly turn out to 
demos, or who are just exploring involvement in movement politics, these 
"psychological" tactics can be enough to turn them away altogether, and 
for good. They have a major impact on limiting the pool of people we can 
draw on, and help the establishment maintain that only fringe elements 
are protesting.

Morrigan Phillips wrote:

> From the NY Times today. Most scary to me are the "psychological  
> tactics". Its a good read and timely.
> M
>
> By JIM DWYER
> Published: March 17, 2006
>
> In five internal reports made public yesterday as part of a lawsuit,  
> New York City police commanders candidly discuss how they had  
> successfully used "proactive arrests," covert surveillance and  
> psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002, and  
> recommend that those approaches be employed at future gatherings.
>
> Demonstrators protesting the World Economic Forum in 2002 being  
> arrested in Central Park. The police say arrests were fewer than  
> expected.
>
> Among the most effective strategies, one police captain wrote, was 
> the  seizure of demonstrators on Fifth Avenue who were described as  
> "obviously potential rioters."
>
> The reports provide a rare glimpse of internal police evaluations and  
> strategies on security and free speech issues that have provoked 
> sharp  debate between city officials and political demonstrators since 
> the  Sept. 11 attack.
>
> The reports also made clear what the police have yet to discuss  
> publicly: that the department uses undercover officers to infiltrate  
> political gatherings and monitor behavior.
>
> Indeed, one of the documents ? a draft report from the department's  
> Disorder Control Unit ? proposed in blunt terms the resumption of a  
> covert tactic that had been disavowed by the city and the federal  
> government 30 years earlier. Under the heading of recommendations, 
> the  draft suggested, "Utilize undercover officers to distribute  
> misinformation within the crowds."
>
> Asked about the proposal, Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the  
> Police Department, said yesterday: "The N.Y.P.D. does not use police  
> officers in any capacity to distribute misinformation."
>
> Mr. Browne also said that the "proactive" arrests referred to in the  
> report ? numbering about 30 ? involved protesters with pipes and 
> masks  who he said presented an obvious threat.
>
> In another report, a police inspector praised the "staging of massive  
> amounts" of armored vehicles, prisoner wagons and jail buses in the  
> view of the demonstrators, writing that the sight "would cause them 
> to  be alarmed."
>
> Besides the draft report, the documents released yesterday included  
> four final reports written by commanders to assess police performance  
> during the World Economic Forum, which met in New York from Jan. 31 
> to  Feb. 4, 2002.
>
> The economic forum, a private organization that normally meets in  
> Davos, Switzerland, and draws a grab bag of leaders from government,  
> business, and academia ? as well as protesters from a miscellany of  
> causes and movements ? was moved to the city as a gesture of  
> solidarity after the terror attack.
>
> Security was extremely tight around Midtown Manhattan, where the  
> delegates were meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria, and demonstrators were  
> kept blocks from the hotel. Officials spoke of violence during  
> antiglobalism protests at other high profile gatherings in Seattle 
> and  Genoa, Italy. In the end, though, as one of the police reports 
> noted,  "the amount of confrontation and number of arrests were lower 
> than  expected."
>
> Parts of that document and others were made public, over the  
> objections of the city, by a federal magistrate, Gabriel W.  
> Gorenstein, who said the excerpts went to the heart of a lawsuit  
> brought by 16 people who were arrested at an animal rights  
> demonstration during the economic forum. The police said they were  
> blocking the sidewalk and had refused to obey an order to disperse;  
> the demonstrators said no one told them to move.
>
> Many of the issues in the animal rights case, which challenge broad  
> police tactics and arrest strategies, resonate in well over a hundred  
> other lawsuits brought against the city by demonstrators who were  
> arrested at war protests, bicycle rallies and during the Republican  
> National Convention.
>
> Daniel M. Perez, the lawyer representing the people arrested at the  
> animal rights demonstration, argued that the police tactics "punish,  
> control and curtail the lawful exercise of First Amendment  
> activities." The Police Department and the city have said that  
> preserving public order is essential to protecting the civil rights 
> of  demonstrators and bystanders.
>
> Mr. Perez maintains that the police documents, taken together, show a  
> policy of pre-emptive arrests. The draft report discussed how early  
> arrests could shape future events. "The arrests made at West 59th  
> Street and Fifth Avenue set a 'tone' with the demonstrators and their  
> possible plans at other demonstrations," the report stated.
>
> The disorder control unit's commander, Thomas Graham, is listed as 
> the  author of the report, but the document is not signed and the 
> word  "draft" is handwritten across the top.
>
> The same tactic is cited in another report, dated Feb. 8, 2002, and  
> signed by Capt. Robert L. Bonifaci, commander of the Queens North 
> Task  Force. Captain Bonifaci wrote, "It should be noted that a large 
> part  of the success in policing the major demonstration on Saturday, 
> Feb.  2, 2002, was due in part to the proactive arrest policy that 
> was  instituted at the start of the march at 59th Street and Fifth 
> Avenue,  and directed toward demonstrators who were obviously 
> potential rioters."
> Skip to next paragraph
>
> Elaborating on the report, Mr. Browne, the police spokesman, said 
> that  plainclothes officers saw a group of demonstrators put on masks 
> as  they drew near the Plaza Hotel, then take out metal pipes and try 
> to  rush police lines.
>
> "In addition to mainly peaceful protesters, the W.E.F. attracted  
> hard-core, violent elements that were surveilled by the N.Y.P.D.," 
> Mr.  Browne said, citing the incident at the Plaza. "Yes, we used  
> surveillance techniques to track and hopefully disrupt violent  
> elements. That's proactive."
>
> About 30 people were arrested there, and virtually all their cases 
> are  now sealed, indicating that the charges were either dismissed by  
> prosecutors or dropped after six months without further incident.
>
> The Police Department report from Michael E. Shortell, a deputy  
> inspector who headed a narcotics command in northern Manhattan,  
> included a list of "positive aspects" of the Police Department's  
> approach. Among them: "The staging of massive amounts of equipment in  
> the key areas (e.g. armored vehicles, command posts, prisoner wagons,  
> Department of Correction buses, city buses)."
>
> Capt. Timothy Hardiman also took note of what he saw as the helpful  
> presence of city corrections buses, which are used to transport  
> prisoners and have reinforced windows, protected by metal grids.
>
> "It was useful to have buses with corrections officers on hand,"  
> Captain Hardiman wrote. "They also had a powerful psychological effect."
>
> Mr. Browne said the main reason buses were on hand was to quickly 
> move  prisoners from an arrest scene. "If a corrections bus had a 
> deterrent  effect on someone contemplating a violent act, then that's 
> value  added," he said.
>
> However, the draft report stated that the emphasis on quickly moving  
> prisoners had not been helpful. "This hastened the process adding to  
> the confusion and increasing the potential for mistakes to be made,"  
> the report stated.
>
> Mr. Perez said the show of force sent a deliberate warning to people  
> expressing their opinions. "The message is, if you turn out, be  
> prepared to be arrested, be prepared to be sent away for a long 
> time,"  he said. "It sounds like something from a battle zone."
>
> Demonstrators arrested during the economic forum were held by the  
> police for up to 40 hours without seeing a judge ? twice as long as  
> people accused of murder, rape and robbery arrested on those same  
> days, Mr. Perez said.
>
> Mr. Browne of the Police Department said that the arrests were  
> processed as quickly as possible, and that protesters were not 
> singled  out for longer detention.
>
> The reports, which were heavily edited at the request of the city,  
> also discuss the use of undercover officers at the protests. Captain  
> Hardiman wrote that "the use of undercovers from narcotics provided  
> useful information." And on Inspector Shortell's list of positive  
> aspects of the strategy, he listed "the use of undercover personnel 
> in  the ranks of the protesters."
>
> The power of the police to secretly monitor political gatherings was  
> tightly controlled by a federal court between 1985 and early 2003, 
> the  result of a lawsuit by political activists from the 1960's who 
> charged  that police undercover officers had disrupted their ability 
> to express  their opinions. Many of the restrictions from that case, 
> known as  Handschu, were eased at the request of the city in 2003.
>
> The proposal to use undercover officers to spread misinformation ?  
> which the Police Department says was not adopted ? recalled the  
> origins of the Handschu lawsuit, which was based in part on the  
> actions of undercover agents and officers who instigated trouble and  
> spread lies among a group of military veterans who opposed the 
> Vietnam  War.
>