Ex-Seattle chief: 'Occupy' police use 'failed' tactics

[fezzyfestoon]

This BBC article features the Seattle police chief in charge of the response to the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. He says the response then was terrible and he regrets the use of tear gas and pepper spray. He also thinks the military mentality in place since 9/11 is "hopelessly misguided". They've lost their understanding of what their purpose is.

I completely agree and it's a shame this valuable perspective will more than likely be either ignored or ridiculed in some way. The police in this country have no right to claim to be protecting the public. Their jobs are intimately tied to politics and are almost completely disconnected from the people their jobs are all about. It seems that in more cases than not, the police are on the opposite end of respecting and protecting people and their rights.

[Stardust]

This issue goes far beyond the Occupy movement, though. Over the last several years we've seen an almost siege mentality come from the police, which extends to seizing cameras containing valuable documentary evidence from bystanders and destroying them in plain sight of the persons they're supposedly meant to be protecting. The brutalized response to the Occupy movement seems to be a natural - almost inevitable - consequence of the increasingly hierarchical relationship of the gendarmerie to the public.

[fezzyfestoon]

This issue goes far beyond the Occupy movement, though. Over the last several years we've seen an almost siege mentality come from the police, which extends to seizing cameras containing valuable documentary evidence from bystanders and destroying them in plain sight of the persons they're supposedly meant to be protecting. The brutalized response to the Occupy movement seems to be a natural - almost inevitable - consequence of the increasingly hierarchical relationship of the gendarmerie to the public.

Oh, absolutely. They're an expression of power over the people not of the people now. They protect the interests of the powerful above all else in nearly all circumstances. And their word is treated as the gospel in court, they're protected from within despite wrongdoing, and politicians fervently demand the police be respected.

[Stardust]

The problem, ultimately, has its roots in the public's absolute obedience to figures of authority in the United States. It never ceases to be a source of amazement to me that a nation that prides itself on a sort of 'rugged individualism' never misses an opportunity to prostrate itself before the nearest figure in a uniform. Much of this has to do with the gradual abolition of individualism from the public sphere, both Left and Right.

[Franzl]

The problem, ultimately, has its roots in the public's absolute obedience to figures of authority in the United States. It never ceases to be a source of amazement to me that a nation that prides itself on a sort of 'rugged individualism' never misses an opportunity to prostrate itself before the nearest figure in a uniform. Much of this has to do with the gradual abolition of individualism from the public sphere, both Left and Right.

True. Very true. Although not quite as disturbing as the worship that goes on for the military.

[Free Palestine]

Seattle is quite far ahead of the rest of the country, in some respects.

The problem, ultimately, has its roots in the public's absolute obedience to figures of authority in the United States. It never ceases to be a source of amazement to me that a nation that prides itself on a sort of 'rugged individualism' never misses an opportunity to prostrate itself before the nearest figure in a uniform. Much of this has to do with the gradual abolition of individualism from the public sphere, both Left and Right.

True. Very true. Although not quite as disturbing as the worship that goes on for the military.

This.  All of this.