I have made a fair and clear case in my earlier posts that the Olympia police have violated procedures and had they not violated procedures then it probably would have ended peacefully. This means that we have a legitimate right to see them held accountable.

The crowd was a mix of students and outsiders, but they were peacefully demonstrating on behalf of the black male in the back of the squad car. They just finished listening to politically engaging music that talked often of the struggles of black people. Some chanted, others blocked the cop car. Some people would go sit on the hill or talk to their buddies while others came and chanted for a while. The four cops originally there with our officer were chatting with the students. They didn't seem very threatened when I walked up to one of them and tried to talk to him, they had been there for an hour already. They stood there and rolled their eyes, ready to go home to their significant others.

Finally they realized they weren't going to be able to get the students to let the cop car pass very easily. They would be waiting all night for the students to get bored and go home. They had every right to arrest everyone in front of the cop car, but they instead decided it wasn’t worth it. It was a simple fight, no-one was hurt bad, they could find the guy and prosecute later if they wanted. It was a good compromise, which would have eased tensions between students and police.

I just went down to City Hall and filed a complaint against the Olympia Police Department.

I stated that the video shows the Olympia Police ignoring both chain of command and rules of engagement policies. These policies are there to prevent riots from forming out of peaceful demonstrations. Their negligence and stupid bravado caused the event to escalate needlessly putting officers and students in danger.

I stated that the Thurston County officers at the car who never felt threatened enough to use crowd control actions were engaged in the process of a peaceful resolution. The Evergreen policewoman had announced to the crowd that she would let him go, after being advised that that would be the best solution, and was in the process of getting his name and contact information.

The police on the scene first, and therefore in command of the situation, gave no indication that they approved or condoned the other officers coming in and using force. The police on the outside of the circle did not have a strategically limited position like the cops inside the circle making their use of force seem unwarranted and dangerous to the officers surrounded.

The Evergreen policewoman gave no indication that she knew they were coming or that they would be using force. During the forum on Tuesday she stated that she stood up to receive pepper spray in her face. Every indication in the video shown gives the impression that after an hour of the same level of commitment to a peaceful resolution shown by both police and students that letting the man go would have served as a symbolic gesture that would have dispersed the crowd peacefully.

Given all the thought going into policing this week, I thought this one deserves its own post. The city council is looking at its Police Auditor program this week. To that end, they got a report.

Here's a summary:

• 14 total complaints, with 28 seperate allegations in 2007, compared to 28 compaints in 2006 with 50 allegations. In 2005 12 complaints, 27 allegations.
• 3 complaints of racial profilling, none sustained.
• 4 excessive force complaints, none involving Taser, OC spray, batons or firearms. Most common included handcuffs. None sustained.
• One unlawful arrest, which was unfounded.
• The only sustained complaint was one count of "Improper Driving."

Here's some background information on the police auditor program.

Here's the full report, scroll down for the full counts:

Dear OlyBlog,

I am a frequent lurker and newly registered member. While there is much to discuss and consider around the events at TESC the night of the 14th, I'm here with some questions about the Olympian and general media coverage.

First read up on what a Chief's Forum is. The public can attend their meetings as observers.

March discussion topic: Maintaining Order in the Community

City Council Chambers, 900 Plum St. SE.

(I posted this on an Evergreen listserve first, so it is directed to the Evergreen community primarily. It is a soft cry for solidarity and to focus our attention on productive dialogue to prevent more violence between the students and police. Thanks for the responses to my previous posts, they have been thoughtful, I really like OLYBLOG.)

-------

Riot is over, we are all friends again. 

(This was something I wrote in December for the Evergreen listserve. It was in response to an e-mail by someone who was harassed by the police after a jay walking ticket. I thought it might give some background and depth to my claim that the riot has historical roots.)

We are all oppressed not criminals. (December 1, 2007)

You get what you give. What goes around comes around. As the call, so is the echo. All these sayings come from traditional wisdom. That wisdom guides us in how we treat the people in our community. If we look at our own lives history often we can see this is true. Unfortunately the police are determined to seek retribution beyond what is fair. Unless we stop them, rationality and wisdom will be defeated by vengeance and abuse of power.

The Olympian states, “Physically damaging or disabling an emergency vehicle constitutes first-degree malicious mischief, a Class B felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.”

Historically, challenges to power have been met with fury and retribution in orders of magnitude larger than what could be considered fair and just. One destroyed cop car is not equal to ten years in jail served by people used as scapegoats. The police officers will receive no punishment for beating and dousing the public, yet again, with pepper spray, sending one student to the hospital with bruised ribs. Instead they will receive over time pay, which will continue to increase the costs of the incident.

The police have detectives issuing subpoenas for photos and videos taken of the riot. "We will get it," said Sheriff Dan Kimball.

Finding someone to blame is a priority for the police force. Anyone who was there knows that it is impossible to fairly blame one person or even a small group of people. How many people were shouting ‘fuck the cops’? A hundred. I stood in front of the cop car, I shouted to ‘let him go’. I stood unable to stop the increasing mayhem, provoked by the police. I watched people getting angry as their friends and community members were crying from pain.

Had a dinner at Old School today starting at 5pm, I reserved the back room, figured about 6-8 people.

We had dang near 20 people openly wearing sidearms crowding Old School and eating pizza. I somehow forgot to mention the size of a "small" pizza to my friends :-)

We spent about 3 hours chatting, and having a good time. Nobody had any problems or issues with us, and I'm pretty sure that 20 people openly carrying were noticed. When we were all getting ready to leave, we chatted with with a couple of guys playing video games about OC.

Drew Hendricks showed up as well, and had a good time talking and exchanging information.

It was quite a rush to have 20 people show up as a show of solidarity against the OPD's harassing actions.

EDIT.  This happened Monday, around noonish. Uploaded document from the OPD, added image of my sidearm

 

 

Okay, this deals with guns, and the lawful possession and carry thereof. Anyone offended by this, may as well stop reading. There may even be pictures. Let it be known upfront that I have broken no laws, and always carry my sidearm legally and peaceably. I am not posting this to get into an argument about if my prefered mode of carry is a good thing or a bad thing, or if people should even carry guns, etc... This is to discuss a really screwed up stop by the OPD. The fact that I open carry (OC) my sidearm is not up for debate here. I do, and will continue to do so. In this state, the right to keep and bear arms is clearly enshrined in the constitution, and is a civil liberty. Not up for argument.

The Olympia Police Department has issued a training directive regarding the fact that OC is legal. I have uploaded it here for anyone to download.

Because OC in and of itself is not enough to warrant alarm, and there must be specific behavior accompanying it, despite complaints if I was not engaged in threatening behavior I am breaking no laws. Officer O'Neil gave me a choice to have my weapon taken from me, or to conceal it. This totatally disregarded my rights. This was all happening while his partner had a gun out. They were coercing under color of law to force a particular mode of behavior, despite the actions I was doing breaking no laws. Anyway, I'll clarify points as they arise. I also have some emails from Lt. Wilson I am going to upload. There are some disturbing statements in one of them. I will post them as a reply to this blog entry to keep the intial post as brief as possible. The topic here is how the OPD violated civil liberties, not guns, not OC, etc....

That said, here goes...