Stupid NYPD Cops Are Taking a Horrendous PR Beating

[SoDesuKa]

It's time for the New York cops to regroup and take stock of the situation they've gotten themselves into. They are taking a horrendous public relations beating, and it's mostly self-inflicted. The pepper spray incident was bad enough, and they could have limited the damage if they hadn't doubled down on it. Now it's not just a loose cannon of a rogue deputy inspector, it's the entire top brass of the department. The whole world can plainly see that the cops inveigled the demonstrators out to the middle of Brooklyn Bridge so they could beat the shit out of them. There wasn't any purpose to trapping so many hundreds of people other than to do to them essentally what Anthony Bologna did to a group of women penned in behind a police barricade.

The whole world is watching as the New York cops make lame arguments to justify their out-of-control behavior. This is what happens when police departments get politicized - there's nobody high-ranking enough to call attention to a public relations debacle in the making. It's payback for the Republican Convention in 2004, guys. You look like shit and you deserve it.



Rogue Inspector Leads NYPD to PR Calamity

[MannyGoldstein]

1. I fundamentally agree, but did they beat the bridge protesters?

I hadn't heard that, although given the mainstream media news blackout, that's not surprising.

[seabeyond]

2. my way of thinking, trapping them in a space without bathroom facilities, food or water

is bothersome

but then that is just me and treating people as humans with certain basic rights, like peeing if one needs to.

[Coexist]

4. no, they didn't.. but....

watching it... I was wondering if it wasn't a ploy to push them to fighting back, and then the entire movement would've been viewed through the lens of that one "violent" person. But no one bit. They were scared and angry and penned in, and they took it. Peacefully. And so the NYPD looks like clowns.

[JDPriestly]

27. Here is the video of the entrapment.

I suspect the goal was to identify anyone with an outstanding warrant and to also get names, etc. of the protestors. Police state attitudes if not reality.

I am 68 and have lived in and visited different countries. Only in Eastern Europe did I see or know of stuff like this. I just can't believe it.

[SoDesuKa]

33. The Cops are Outgunned

Cops know only what they know, and they typically deal with criminals. Using them in political street theater takes them out of the range of their expertise. The brass were offended by the scapegoating of Anthony Bologna, and they foolishly hit back with what they've got - treating the protesters as criminals. It was really dumb of the cops to be caught in a no-win position like that, but they are badly led by Raymond Kelly and Michael Bloomberg, two guys with no skin in the game. Kelly's too old for his career to be damaged by his ineptitude, and Bloomberg's headed to political obscurity anyhow.

The cops are usually up against meathead criminals, but not this time. Today they're up against politically savvy organizers who know media and they know street theater. The protest leaders have done their homework, and their success is no accident. The cops are losing every battle, and eventually it will dawn on them to back off. Just wait till one of the white shirts makes a mistake bad enough to lose his pension. They will howl at the injustice! But they will stop being punked.

[JDPriestly]

34. But now the organizers have to be careful.

All those protestors have been I'd. Those with prior offenses and those with outstanding warrants have been also been I'd. And there is a possibility that a few of them may be forced into becoming informants or worse. That is something that the organizers need to discuss with their legal team. Remember what happened in the demonstrations in Canada a few years ago. Police joined the protests and tried to disrupt. That is typical of corrupt police departments. And thus far, I am not impressed with the NYPD. I hope I am very wrong, but this must be a consideration. Videotaping everything is very important.

[SoDesuKa]

35. No More Mr. Nice Guy

The protests arose because of the large number of clever people with nothing to lose by discrediting our dysfunctional economic system. They're not part of it, and they have nothing to gain from it. It's more likely that the more they shake the tree the more fruit will fall.

The reason the protestors have been successful is that they've thought this thing through, at least more than the City government has. Political problems don't become police problems because the police are available to deal with them. I'm reminded of the way the city of Fullerton, California deals with homelessness - they pound the shit out of annoying homeless guys.

I don't think the protesters have reason to fear the cops' taking the gloves off. The cops can mishandle a strategy of selectively ruining individual protesters just as they've mishandled the other strategies they're now close to discarding. Anthony Bologna has been turned into a pillar of salt, and the other white shirts know it. We'll see how badly they want to associate themselves with selectively ruining the lives of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

[JDPriestly]

37. Thanks. I sure hope you are right about the police mishandling it and

losing out. I am not normally a police-basher. But the video showing this big officer as well as other police officers leading the protestors onto the street portion of the bridge and then trapping them is just disgusting. The NYPD is not to be trusted. Not all police forces are that bad, but the NYPD is pretty beyond the pale from what I see in that video.

[SoDesuKa]

39. White Shirts Are More Savvy Than This

The white shirts are the natural politicians of the police department. There's no civil service beyond the rank of Captain; after that it's all politics. Needless to say, they're generally shrewd enough to avoid career trouble, the sort that has turned Anthony Bologna radioactive. He'll never get another command; he's finished.

So much for the idea of putting the white shirts in the vanguard of the police lines. It's career-threatening to make an arrest that doesn't stick because you pounced on the wrong guy. So I expect the white shirts to gravitate to the rear, which is where they actually belong.

The cops are now back to using ordinary street cops at the head of their line, which means that whatever problem putting the white shirts in front was intended to avoid is now back with them. I suspect it's that ordinary street cops are easily provoked into becoming head bashers. But as it turns out, the white shirts are head bashers too.

Is there any reason to throw people to the ground?

[JDPriestly]

53. Certainly no reason to throw these protestors to the ground -- other

than to get that bully thrill, to intimidate people, etc. It isn't working. More and more people are joining the protest. Randi Rhodes read a list of organizations that have offered their support.

This is growing. Its form will probably change a lot, but the energy and anger that is building it is just huge and exists across the country.

[EFerrari]

63. That's really the only reason I can think of that makes a mass arrest

useful.

[October]

66. Sorry, where is the video? Thanks. /nt

[SoDesuKa]

44. Bingo!

Yes, it was an obvious attempt to goad at least one of the protesters into throwing a punch at a cop. Goading people into throwing punches is taught in the Police Academy, a lot of people don't know that. But the cops are very good at it, and they get better at it with years of practice. They're especially keen on provoking a punch when there's a lot of them on the scene. It helps too that the police cameraman was there to record the initial punch that didn't materialize because the marchers were too wary.

Incidentally, why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[SoDesuKa]

9. Provoking a Riot

It's clear that the cops have been spoiling for an opportunity to do some head-cracking; it's the only interpretation possible for their behavior. They are being outmaneuvered by the protesters, and they are lizard-brained. Look at the videos of the cops leading the protesters onto the roadway, making no effort to communicate that it's grounds for arrest.

You can't give the cops benefit of the doubt, especially how sore-headed they are about the PR defeat they took in the pepper spray incident. They went double-or-nothing, even going so far as to wade into the crowd to pick out males who might be enticed to throw a punch. They were looking to beat people up.

And there's no doubt that this is a politicized police department. The white shirts all made rank in the Giuliani years and in the post-9/11 years. These guys are all right wingers to the core. That's what lends credence to the possibility of groupthink - nobody gave any thought to what the entrapment on the bridge would look like. And frankly it looks like the kind of justice the cops administer in an alley.

[Historic NY]

11. Don't let them...just keep calm that is what they want a fight.....

I know how it works. I am upset they resorted to underhanded tactics of leading people on...there is no mistake in the video.

[SoDesuKa]

14. No Mistake About It

You're 100% correct that the cops were more interested in mixing it up with the protesters than in keeping the peace. That's why they're getting the public relations black eye, one that they've deserved for years. They're getting their PR come-uppance only because they've isolated themselves from any dissenting viewpoint. You know they all go home and watch Fox News. Nothing ever intrudes into their hermetically sealed world.

The cops are annoyed that despite their tight control over press access, they are still taking a PR beating. It's not supposed to happen. That's why they are frantic enough to provoke a riot in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge. And they wanted one so badly, too.

[roguevalley]

26. arresting a little girl in her little girl hat was a freaking disaster.

they need to pull their heads out.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Here's a video my friend took on the bridge:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x620664

[Historic NY]

18. The guy with the shoulder boards on his jacket is a 4 Star Chief..

or the 1st Dep. Comm'r. he is directing the troops.

[wildeyed]

17. I was watching the live stream as it happened.

I didn't see any beatings, but it was very very scary and could have easily gone badly wrong. All those people were penned up against each other. If they had panicked there could have been people trampled, falling into the police line, the police line pushing back at the protesters. It was a very stupid and reckless thing for the police to do and completely unnecessary.

[uppityperson]

3. I hadn't heard or seen the "beat the shit out of" the people on the bridge. Link?

[SoDesuKa]

36. What They Did Was Bad Enough

When the marchers reached the center of the bridge, the cops started wading into the crowd picking people out and throwing them to the ground. I'm not sure what were the selection criteria, why some people were picked and others weren't. I suspect it may be the cops' intuition about who might be enticed into throwing a punch.

The fact that the cops enticed people into a cul-de-sac and threw them to the ground is certainly provocative enough. They don't deserve the presumption that they weren't looking to do any more than that; after all, they've still not responded to the Anthony Bologna incident. The assertion that the cops were looking to beat the shit out of people is not negated by the fact that they didn't. They just didn't get the opportunity they were clearly spoiling for.

Incidentally, why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[uppityperson]

51. I agree. What they did was bad enough, don't need to exaggerate "beating the shit out of people"

call them on what they did.

" The assertion that the cops were looking to beat the shit out of people is not negated by the fact that they didn't."

Of course not. However, the assertion that they DID beat the shit out of people IS negated by the fact that they didn't.

[SoDesuKa]

54. No Exaggeration

I stand by my statement, the cops inveigled the demonstrators out to the middle of Brooklyn Bridge so they could beat the shit out of them. That's what the cops hoped to do, beat the shit out of the demonstrators. The reason the first group of individuals were selected out of the crowd isn't clear, but it's easily surmised that this group was most likely to throw a punch, e.g., uppity Black guys, young hotheads . . .

The protesters didn't fall for it. However, the statement that the cops were looking to beat the shit out of them remains operative.

[Ikonoklast]

5. Tony doesn't realize that he's being used by the very same people that would steal his pension.

And let him die when he got sick after retiring.

[B2G]

6. They did no such thing

And it's pretty fucking irresponsible of you to say so.


"The whole world can plainly see that the cops inveigled the demonstrators out to the middle of Brooklyn Bridge so they could beat the shit out of them. There wasn't any purpose to trapping so many hundreds of people other than to do to them essentally what Anthony Bologna did to a group of women penned in behind a police barricade."

[eShirl]

7. that's why I unrecc'd this thread

[uppityperson]

8. Me too. I didn't see them pepper spraying or beating the crap out of anyone.

Things are bad enough, don't need to exaggerate

[SoDesuKa]

30. Look Again

You can see cops throwing people to the ground. Maybe that's not "beating the shit" out of them, but it's quite an indignity. When's the last time somebody threw you to the ground?

Wa also know what happened afterwards. The people were carried off and detained for several hours. Maybe that's not "beating the shit" out of them, but it's a serious violation of your personal rights. When's the last time somebody carried you off and held you prisoner for several hours?

You can imagine the charges against any of the protesters who threw a cop to the ground. It would be a felony. However, when the cops throw protesters to the ground, it's just "law enforcement."

WTF?

[eShirl]

40. So you don't have to make up shit like they "beat up" people, right? Just say what really happened.

It's not difficult.

[SoDesuKa]

42. Motivations

The cops inveigled the crowd onto the roadway in hopes of beating the shit out of some of them. That's not a wild supposition, it's the sort of thing cops do when they get pissed off. They didn't actually get the opportunity to beat the shit out of people the way they'd hoped, but that's because the protesters weren't tricked a second time.

There's no reason to grant the cops any presumption of innocence here. Not after the Anthony Bologna incident, and not after their clear refusal to advise the marchers not to enter the roadway. It was a clear attempt to unload their frustrations on the protesters, and I include beating the shit out of some of them to be among the cops' intentions.

You may disagree. However, I tend to think of New York cops as pigs, and pigs do what pigs do. They brutalize people the way Anthony Bologna did. And they look for ways to cover it up. We can see from the videos of the Brooklyn Bridge incident that the cops are wading into the crowd and picking out individuals sometimes three deep into the crowd. I suspect these people were selected for things they said to the cops, and there's clearly no justification at all for such a selection. These people were picked out with the hopes that they might be stupid enough to throw a punch at a cop, meriting the kind of beating the cops were only too ready to mete out.

Incidentally, why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[uppityperson]

50. Exactly. What they did was bad enough, don't need to exaggerate. nt

[SoDesuKa]

55. Cul-de-Sac

When the idea to corral the protesters on the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge was first proposed, there were knowing smiles all around the table. Their common understanding is that when pissed-off cops get you in an alley it's not to strike up a conversation with you, it's to beat the shit out of you.

They wanted to beat the shit out of the demonstrators, it's part of a well-established behavior pattern. However, they didn't get the opportunity this time. When these groups meet again, the cops' first target will be the cameras. Then they'll beat the shit out of the demonstrators.

[uppityperson]

59. The Brooklyn Bridge is not an alley, invalid comparison.

I understand that you perceive the purpose of detouring them onto the bridge was to beat the shit out of them. I disagree. That is all.

[SoDesuKa]

60. Traffic Control

It's been pointed out elsewhere that the cops are perfectly capable of keeping people away from where the cops don't want them to be. Instead of discouraging the marchers from walking on the roadway, the cops actually led them there! The police clearly had some ulterior motive, which IMHO was not limited to making arrests.

Yes, the Brooklyn Bridge is not an alley. However, there's no way to get away once the cops have trapped you there.

Why is it necessary to push people to the ground?

[uppityperson]

62. I agree with all that except think they only wanted to arrest a bunch.

It isn't necessary, just power greedy jerks.

[SoDesuKa]

13. Brutes Acting Brutally

Brutality is a way of life for cops. They live and breathe brutality; you can even see Anthony Bologna's love of brutality in his eyes. What was his reason for pepper-spraying the women? He couldn't help himself. Something about their voices just got to him.

It's just the nature of cops to want to lead "suspects" into alleys and other places where they can't get away. Jail cells do just fine, too. NYPD's top brass saw an opportunity to trap hundreds of protesters out in the middle of Brooklyn Bridge where the only way to escape was to jump over the side. Like Anthony Bologna, they couldn't help themselves either.

Once the protesters reached the middle of the span, the cops waded into the crowd looking for males whom they might entice into throwing a punch. The effort failed, but not for want of trying. The only reason NYPD has not faced a riot is that they're dealing with responsible citizens. But they don't deserve credit for keeping the peace; they've tried to provoke violence at every opportunity.

Why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

21. Cops are trained to take charge of a situation by many means.

If they don't want to answer your question, or argue with you, they won't respond to you, this gives them control of the conversation on their terms.
When they throw you to the ground they become the alpha dog, so to speak, literally standing over you.
And that look in their eyes is one of knowing that you are wrong and they are right and that you should fear them.

[JDPriestly]

29. Video was running the whole time. A video on YouTube

shows the police leading the protestors from the pedestrian walkway above the bridge onto the bridge and then trapping and arresting them.

This looks like something that would happen in Eastern Europe under the Communists. I don't know what my country is becoming. Shooting an American citizen suspected of some vague crime with a drone and then entrapping people.

I think the police wanted to ID folks and check for outstanding warrants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz172asCf2M

I hope that link works. If not Google it because I have seen the beginning of that video twice. The entrapment is plain as day.

The police just wasted a lot of taxpayer money, and some of them should be fired for inciting what they later claimed was illegal activity.

[CoffeeCat]

32. Technology really helps us...

...and works against them.

Thousands of people are filming this--and there's not a damn thing they can do about it.

It's a beautiful thing.

[JDPriestly]

28. B2G -- Wanna bet?

Here is the video of what happened beginning with the marchers headed down the pedestrian walk being rerouted and encouraged by the police officers to enter and proceed down the bridge into the trap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz172asCf2M

[coalition_unwilling]

65. Come on. You're not reading carefully. SoDesuKa never said

the cops beat anyone. He said they herded people onto the bridge WITH THE INTENT of provoking a fight so that they could beat someone. In other words, SoDesuKa made a claim which you could debate about the cops' intent. SoDesuKa made no such claim about their actual actions. Big difference

If SoDesuKa's thesis is correct, the protesters refused to let themselves be goaded into giving the cops a pretext to crack down.

[SoDesuKa]

72. The Beating Card

Police departments always want to have the beating card in their hand whether or not they get to play it. This time out they didn't get to beat the shit out of the demonstrators, but they wanted to. It says right in the Supervisor's Handbook: "One effective response to humiliation is to hit the offender over the head with a billy club."



It never hurts to pound a few heads

[virgogal]

10. I haven't seen much about it except here on DU. Nothing

in my Boston Globe(unless I missed it).

[SoDesuKa]

16. Limiting Press Access

It's more difficult to control the press in New York than it is in countries the American military occupies, but the principle is the same. People who are likely to write something unfriendly are just not allowed in, that's all. Want a career in the newspaper business? Don't be a trouble-maker.

The problem in New York is that the town is full of media-savvy people. The cops spoil for a riot, word gets out about it. NYPD brass are annoyed that one of their own took a PR hit for the pepper spray incident, something that could have happened to any of them.



Hippies Helping the Terrorists Win

[Kurovski]

46. I can't help but think...

that at least half the cops in America saw that macing and thought of their own daughters. It was pointless and good cops know it. There is more sympathy for this movement than we are yet hearing about.

On the live feed i did hear one 911 responder who is ill and an activist speak in an on the street interview. He even mentioned Anonymous, and said "come on down".

[SoDesuKa]

47. PR Beating

The cops are taking a public relations beating because image-making is not part of their business. It's wrong of the city government to use the cops to deal with an issue that's not a police matter; it's a political matter. Unfortunately, the New York cops got comfy thinking of themselves as 9/11 heroes, and resisted the idea that they'd ever fall from grace. And now they have.

They should push back through their unions against doing the kind of work that they're not trained to do. For all we know, Anthony Bologna may be a helluva good cop; he just doesn't belong on the street enforcing non-existent "laws" forbidding freedom of speech. But the pepper spray incident has turned him radioactive; he'll never get another command - he's finished. Everywhere he goes, everybody will know that he's that Anthony Bologna. His underlings will have trouble making arrests stick on their word alone.

More to the point, political issues should be dealt with by political leaders, not by lame duck Mayors or by Police Commissioners who are halfway out the door. They don't have enough skin in the game to call out the larger political establishment for what's actually going on. Political leaders need to address our dysfunctional economic system which is divided pretty much the way the protesters describe it - one percent winners and ninety-nine percent losers. This is not a problem for the police department.

Why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[Kurovski]

48. From the looks of the video Bologna doesn't appear to be much of a human being,

let alone a good cop. I guess we shall see.

[SoDesuKa]

56. Deputy Inspector

Bologna made rank during the Giuliani years and the post-9/11 period. Somebody liked him, otherwise he wouldn't be a deputy inspector. A lot of cops retire as patrolmen. Some make sergeant, others make lieutenant. To make captain and above, you need a rabbi.

[coalition_unwilling]

67. I'm frankly surprised their union leadership is not protesting against

being deployed against the working class. Their union must be really right wing to be protecting the fat cats' interests.

[SoDesuKa]

69. No Right Wing Monolith

There's a natural antagonism between cops and civil liberties groups, and left-leaning cops keep a low profile about their political beliefs. But there are lots more liberals on the Police Department than people suspect. It isn't a monolith any more than the Marine Corps is; you just don't hear about it. Cops do talk to cops, and they respect each other's opinions even when they don't agree with them.

We don't know how individual officers feel about being deployed against the working class. But resistance to excessive politicization takes place over time - it impacts recruitment and retention. Young people who can get hired as cops have lots of other career options as well. If the police bosses get too heavy-handed, they don't have as big a selection of recruits as they'd have otherwise.

Years ago I met a guy who'd been a cop in Northern California. He said he left the job because he didn't like being called into riot duty in Berkeley and Oakland during the Reagan years. He'd signed up for a peaceful life in what he thought would be Mayberry County and didn't want to deal with riots and such.

[EFerrari]

15. Anyone that gets Ava out of semi-retirement is an idiot

and deserves whatever bad PR that comes their way.

[SoDesuKa]

20. Shabby Performance

It's surprising that the cops don't have a more affirmative media strategy than old-fashioned denial. Tony Baloney is too rich a target for guys like Jon Stewart.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-september-29-2011/democracy-on-the-lurch---wall-street-pepper-spray-incident

[1monster]

23. I wish I could recommend that!

:applause: :applause: :rofl: :rofl: :spray: :spray: :rofl: :rofl: :applause: :applause:

[Demeter]

19. I don't have a Problem with that

Shine the light of reality on a perversion of our public safety workers, to disinfect and clean it.

[lbrtbell]

22. Why should we support police labor unions?

All the cops want to do is bash people's heads in, when the people are trying to protect THEIR bargaining rights.

I say, let's support all public workers except them. Give them reason to hate us.

Ingrates.

[eShirl]

25. That doesn't sound like a very well thought out strategy to me.

[Fire Walk With Me]

24. Thank you NYPD for helping the cause!

:rofl:

[SoDesuKa]

31. One Vast Rodney King Incident

The cops can't deny what they're doing, in fact they can't even assert that they were caught off guard. Their behavior is clearly planned in advance and carried out accordingly. Now that they are taking a public relations pounding, they can't use the defenses they typically employ to excuse out-of-control behavior.

The Anthony Bologna video shows a cop pepper spraying women who have done nothing at all to provoke such an assault. The Brooklyn Bridge video shows the cops leading the way onto the roadway with the protesters following behind.

[lunatica]

38. Isn't this what the British call 'corralling'?

where the demonstrators are herded into a place they can be cordoned off and pushed until violence breaks out thereby justifying their violence. I think they use mounted police to herd the people.

[SoDesuKa]

41. Corralling Is What Buckaroos Do to Cattle

There's no reason for the police to throw people to the ground. Protesters aren't criminals, and don't deserve to be treated as though they are. The cops don't really have as much leeway as they seem to think they have. This is the result of having gotten soft in the ten years since 9/11. People who've had negative interactions with cops don't continue to think of them as heroes - that's only in the newspapers.

Tricking crowds is an unsound practice that will ultimately lead to tragedy. The reason the police are so pooly led is that neither Mayor Bloomberg nor Commissioner Kelly has any skin in the game. Bloomberg's political career is over, and Kelly is already 70 years old. Neither one has any incentive to deal with the real issues here.



Git Along Little Dogies, Git Along

[coalition_unwilling]

68. Plus, Bloomberg is a member of the ruling class and Kelly is

one of the ruling class' lackies and lickspittles.

[SwampG8r]

49. not actually

its more like a nazi kettle slaughter

[lunatica]

52. Now I remember! Tt's called Kettling in Britain

[coalition_unwilling]

58. AKA "The Berkeley Shuffle" (where police herd demonstrators into

an area with no exits and no press, so police can beat the shit out of demonstrators). I've heard the phrase used by veterans of the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War movements. Never experienced it myself first hand and hope never to.

[SoDesuKa]

61. Berkeley Shuffle

I associate what you're calling the Berkeley Shuffle more with Oakland. The cops there have a long history of summary beatings, so much so that the Black Panthers were started there - to protect the community from the cops. It may be that Oakland techniques have been adopted in neighboring Berkeley. The BART cops, too, have been on a killing rampage in the past few years, and San Francisco PD has also taken to gratuitous violence.

Why is it necessary to knock people to the ground?



The Black Panther Party was a response to police brutality.

[backscatter712]

70. The term I keep hearing is kettling.

And it's a fucking despicable tactic.

Sane riot/crowd control protocols always call for providing a way out for people who want out, not kettling until people lose their shit.

[progressoid]

43. "beat the shit out of them"??

Whaaaa?

Link please.

[SoDesuKa]

45. They Were Looking to Do That

The cops were frustrated in their hopes of beating the shit out of the protesters because the marchers were savvy enough not to fall into a second trap. The fact that the hoped-for beating didn't take place doesn't argue against the cops' demonstrated intention to fuck people up.

Goading suspects into throwing a punch is taught in the Police Academy, did you know that? The cops get better at it over time, too. It's right up there with planting marijuana sticks on arrestees, the better to charge them with more crimes. Pigs are pigs, ya know. They can't help themselves, especially when they were smarting over being made fun of after the pepper spray incident.

Why is it necessary to throw people to the ground?

[coalition_unwilling]

57. Most police officers are 'working class.' Now, granted, their

class consciousness may not be as sharpened as it is among other segments of the working class. But I saw a demonstrator at Occupy LA on Saturday who carried a sign that said "The Police are part of the 99% too." I could not agree more.

[eppur_se_muova]

64. Isn't this more the fault of the officers than the beat cops ?

NYPD may well have a problem with authoritarians rising to the top.

[SoDesuKa]

71. Generations

Today's NYPD managers made rank in the Giuliani years and the post-9/11 period. It's unsurprising that there would be more right wingers than at other times, just as the composition of today's Supreme Court reflects the number of Republican administrations.

Police management needs diverse opinions to avoid groupthink errors such as the decision to trap the protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge. Somebody should have said out loud that a boneheaded move like that will cost them an enormous amount of good will and make the cops the target of future demonstrations. Unfortunately, Giuliani and Bloomberg appointees all think alike, and nobody caught the error in time to stop it.

Police departments need to respond rapidly to changing events, but this particular bear has put its nose in a few hornet's nests. I expect the cops will start getting tentative, and that will lead to policy errors of a different sort. They really need to shake things up. Ray Kelly is the wrong man for the job, but Mike Bloomberg doesn't have the political heft to remove him.

Look for the left to make huge political gains over the next year or two.



Le jour de la gloire est arrivé

[eppur_se_muova]

73. Interesting insights, Thanks for your comments. nt