In article <398048A0.933E0080@pacbell.net>, bwarrNOSPAM@pacbell.net wrote:

>Time to call the Feds. In cases where blatant corruption is shown, they
>will come in and police the area.

[...]

One thing that struck me watching the unedited footage from last night was IMO the ineffectiveness of the local police.

When they first arrive, we see an officer asking the two sides to separate. We see Mr. Minton calling his group together, but we see the cult's man not responding to police orders, rather he is yelling at the police how bad Mr. Minton is, lying to the police about how "that man tried to kill me last night" and so forth.

We see the crowd, still mixing freely after that. The police did not take proper control. The cop should have cut off that crap of being yelled at and having his orders ignored, and ordered the man to step to the side. Then he should have told him you will get your people separated now or you will step into the police van now, your choice.

The police need not be aggressive. They need not use force here. The do need to make sure they are never ignored, they need to make sure they are in charge. They are not to be yelled at while they are speaking to a person or giving instructions.

These two sides should have had a psacer between them. Then you have safe, legal shouting match and protest and counter protest that can go on until whenever.

The New York City police is great about this IMO. They have worked hard to figure out how to allow protests and demonstrations and keep them peaceful and without physical contact between the sides. [If only they could control their shooting, but that's a different topic. :-] I do believe they give courses on this to other police departments. I think the CW police could use some advice.

Not that the cops were awful. They did pull some aside, but the situation was still a mess, and some of them just seemed to go right back to what they were doing anyway. The cops could have improved things greatly and lessened the chances for an incident, I think.

--
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Mike O'Connor <mike@leptonicsystems.com>
<http://www.leptonicsystems.com>