GLOBE EDITORIAL
NYPD bluesFROM THE perspective of police tacticians, the recent Republican National Convention in New York City was a breeze, with few incidents of violence and no major disruptions for delegates. But instances of overpolicing have spawned the first of what could be hundreds of lawsuits against the city and its 36,000-member Police Department.
Today's police departments practice a more restrained form of crowd control than in the turbulent 1960s. But in New York City, police wielded their power of arrest in the same heavyhanded manner that Chicago police used their service batons at the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention. New York City police arrested more than 1,800 demonstrators in the weeklong period leading up to and including the Aug. 30-to-Sept. 2 convention. It was an astounding -- and unnecessary -- number of arrests considering the lawful means used by the great majority of protesters to express their dissent. Many of those arrested are not inclined to accept the offers of "adjournment in contemplation of dismissal" -- more a wrist-tap than a wrist-slap -- proposed by prosecutors in Manhattan, according to Bruce Bentley of the National Lawyers Guild. Bentley says the arrested protesters suspect, with good cause, that they were held in detention for long periods either to rid the streets of dissenters or make the job of controlling crowds easier for police. Among the angriest, he says, are protesters who contend that they were not engaged in acts of civil disobedience but were following police instructions when swept up in the plastic mesh nets used to corral occasional troublemakers. New York Judge John Cataldo acted on such complaints on the final day of the convention, when he ordered the release of hundreds of prisoners, many of whom had been held for more than 48 hours without arraignment -- twice the period allowed by the courts. City officials contend that they were overwhelmed by administrative duties, but their explanation doesn't ring true. Earlier, they had said they were prepared to arrest and process thousands of demonstrators if necessary. Bentley says he expects to see lawsuits with multiple plaintiffs. People arrested during the same period for ordinary criminal activity, he says, were arraigned with time to spare, while demonstrators faced what appeared to be deliberate delays.
The Republican convention should not have been used by police as a textbook example for how to control crowds in a period of heightened security after Sept. 11. The predicted hordes of anarchists did not materialize. The actions of protesters -- emphatic but peaceful -- did not justify mass arrests. The preventive detention of demonstrators cannot become standard operating procedure whenever people lawfully assemble. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
|
