Arrested for future crimes/Pre-emptive arrest as NYPD policy
Pre-emptive arrest. NYPD is recommending pre-emptive arrest to dampen protests.
I don't even know what to say here.
This is not the America I was brought up to believe in.
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.
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 also made clear what the police have yet to discuss publicly: that the department uses undercover officers to infiltrate political gatherings and monitor behavior.....Under the heading of recommendations, the draft suggested, "Utilize undercover officers to distribute misinformation within the crowds."....
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.
I don't even know what to say here.
This is not the America I was brought up to believe in.
posted by mikevotes at
5:41 PM
6 Comments:
Yes, I agree. It's slide into a militaristic police state when you can be arrested for not committing a crime, or even for exercizing your freedom of speech. I often wonder if the America I grew up in was just a dream or fantasy, and now I'm just waking up, or has this only happened following the rise of the Bush regime.
By
Lew Scannon, at 6:12 PM
Saw some of that in Toledo at the second NSM (National Socialist Movement) rally on December 10:
Link to post
Many departments are experimenting with this "hold 'em until the protest is over" philosophy as a means of squashing dissent.
In Toledo many people chose not to protest rather than risk getting arrested for "illegal" expression of their right to free speech.
By
historymike, at 6:26 PM
I got $500 from the city for one of these preemptive arrests in the 90s, as did about 400 other people. The tactic is one police will always try on crowds of protesters unless there are real penalities and strong political pressure to hold them in check. That is currently hard to muster.
By
janinsanfran, at 1:47 AM
A guy I know has been thinking of blowing something up. He never told me he was thinking of doing this, but I can tell. I have a psychic ability to know these things. Voices in my head tell me. As a patriotic American, I am planning to turn him in first thing tomorrow morning, and I expect the police to lock him up to prevent him from blowing something up.
It is my small part in helping win the War on Terror.
By
NEWSGUY, at 2:37 AM
Mother puss-bucket! Good catch on that article Mike. I completely missed.
Now I'm going to have to go back and read Minority Report again.
By
Anonymous, at 12:57 PM
Jan, Mike, although this has been going on for awhile(I remember big complaints around the conventions, of course, but also out of Miami), it has never been official policy to arrest people for "protesting on a sunny day." There has always been the pretense of cause.
Like so many other retractions of rights, I'm just surprised bythe baldfacedness of it. I think it shows how the balance of the argument has shifted away.
Newsguy, that is a great comment. In all of this, there has never been any reporting on what gets you on the terror list.
Mike
By
mikevotes, at 1:09 PM
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