Protest, part IV: Cops and firefighters
One of the most exciting (and novel) aspects of
the demonstration on Tuesday is that there were more police officers and
firefighters wielding signs on our side of the barricades than there were in
uniform on the other.
(This is one of the main reasons you shouldn't believe any of the scurrilous reports that there was violence at the protest: There were far, far too many law enforcement officials on our side, and they wouldn't have let us get away with it.)
(This is one of the main reasons you shouldn't believe any of the scurrilous reports that there was violence at the protest: There were far, far too many law enforcement officials on our side, and they wouldn't have let us get away with it.)
Firefighters:
More firefighters. These guys were up from Santa Clara:
Peace officers:
And a closeup.
Thee guy on the right is Shaun DuFosee, a peace officer from Sonoma. When I expressed some mild surprise that activist Democrats would have so many cops on our side, he said:
On the left is James MacDonald, a police officer from San Rafael. He added:
The man in the back, whose name I unfortunately didn't get, reminded me that there are, in fact, Democrats in law enforcement — a point that could hardly have been lost on anyone in attendance. I'm hoping that most of the law enforcement and first responders in the crowd were those things first and Democrats second, or maybe even disillusioned Republicans, but I don't have any data to support that hope at the moment.
In addition to the obvious political advantanges to the anti-Arnold coalition, the presence of law enforcement workers among us means a lot to the movement on the street: Regardless of where we demonstrate, there will always be police officers making sure that laws are observed and property is respected. To the extent that the uniforms know that a lot of their brothers and sisters are on the other side of the line, I think we've got a pretty great insurance policy, both against most sorts of police abuses, and for that matter, "protester abuses" (you all know what I mean).
Besides, the uniform cops want to retire at some point themselves, and presumably collect a pension, so mostly they'll be on our side anyway, right?
More firefighters. These guys were up from Santa Clara:
Peace officers:
And a closeup.
Thee guy on the right is Shaun DuFosee, a peace officer from Sonoma. When I expressed some mild surprise that activist Democrats would have so many cops on our side, he said:
Schwarzenegger is a great uniter...but we're not the people he wanted to unite.
The worst thing you can do is unite your foes.
The man in the back, whose name I unfortunately didn't get, reminded me that there are, in fact, Democrats in law enforcement — a point that could hardly have been lost on anyone in attendance. I'm hoping that most of the law enforcement and first responders in the crowd were those things first and Democrats second, or maybe even disillusioned Republicans, but I don't have any data to support that hope at the moment.
In addition to the obvious political advantanges to the anti-Arnold coalition, the presence of law enforcement workers among us means a lot to the movement on the street: Regardless of where we demonstrate, there will always be police officers making sure that laws are observed and property is respected. To the extent that the uniforms know that a lot of their brothers and sisters are on the other side of the line, I think we've got a pretty great insurance policy, both against most sorts of police abuses, and for that matter, "protester abuses" (you all know what I mean).
Besides, the uniform cops want to retire at some point themselves, and presumably collect a pension, so mostly they'll be on our side anyway, right?
Posted: Wed - April 6, 2005 at 10:59 AM | Category: | | | |
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Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM
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Published On: Jul 23, 2006 02:49 PM
