...during events in public is that law enforcement usually hang-out on fringe, and surveil.

In "2s", patrols will walk or bike though crowd (never have seen a working dog on patrol, usually deployed with cars on fringe).

Most violence is dealt with ASAP, restraints (I have seen pepper sprays & what was called a "freight check" at Fred Meyers, where a group tackles suspects).

...on the Olympian, it's evident that initially, it was a TESC cop acting alone. It was her decision to try and arrest an individual in the middle of a concert. Was this a bad decision?

It seems like the response of the TCSO might be an indication that it was a mistake. The sheriff's office immediately said "Let him go."

Could this have been avoided if the initial officer had taken a different approach?

I'm on the Police Services Community Review Board, so I have some insight into what's been going lately. Disclaimer: I am speaking by personal token here, not in my capacity as a member of the PSCRB.

Basically, certain people on campus have been harboring rancor against police in general since the Port protests; not just against Oly PD, but also against agencies (such as TESC Police Services) which weren't involved in the protests.

As you may also know, we've had a graffiti problem on campus this year, and recently one suspect was brought in for questioning. The person in question claimed in response that he was being subjected to racial profiling. Fact is, however, that he was brought in because two sources independently identified him by name as being a tagger.

So there's a certain amount of... prickliness on campus at present, and some people will seize on any excuse to bitch about TESC Police Services. Now, if there were any substance to these complaints, I would expect someone to have bothered to look up the fact that there is a Police Services Community Review Board and submitted a formal complaint. The fact is, however, that we haven't received a single complaint all year. Unless and until we do, I for one am not inclined to take the bitching seriously.

Note also that it was Thursday night; since there's no regular classes on Fridays, that's the night people get tanked up. I'm rather inclined to think that alcohol played a significantly larger role in this incident getting out of hand than anything the officer in question may or may not have done.

Insofar as I'm aware, and I should note that's from reading media reports while equipped with some knowledge of TESC police procedures, TCSO were not on site initially. They arrived in response to a call for backup from the TESC Police Services officer in question. Now, understand that TESC Police Services has a grand total of ten commissioned officers, and that includes Chief Sorger. Distributed over three shifts, this means that there are at any given time three officers on patrol at most. When there's major trouble, they have to call in external backup (TCSO, OPD or WSP), because there's nothing else available.

First, I'm not a cop. I've taken some CJ courses, and have read numerous books on police work, and some of you may know that it's something I pay close attention to.

With that in mind. There is a possibility that this only escalated after the arrest (or detainment) was made. She (the officer) may have thought it was going to be very simple and it got ugly once the arrest was made. If she was comfortable with the situation to begin with, I would say she didn't really make a mistake in protocol.

TCSO probably told her to let the guy go, after the information was taken, because they did not want to escalate the situation further, and trying to protect someone who is in custody would have made life a little tougher as well. I don't think the officer did anything wrong, but she probably didn't think it was going to turn the way it did. No Monday morning quarterbacking from me though.

As far as taking names, we would have to know what was going through her mind at the time. Cops aren't perfect by any means, but she may have thought she had the instigator, and was wrong. This can be corrected after the fact though, and is generally the best course of action. Given the environment she probably was going to trust her own judgement, and not the word of the excited party-goers.

Bad decision to make an arrest at a concert? Definitely.

This is why when you go to a concert, just about anything and everything is going on. When there's a large group, your options are kind of limited to doing nothing and coming in with a lot of people and kicking a lot of ass.

With that said, I don't think that's reason to say "See, the police made a poor call! It's their fault!" My assumption is that as a TESC Police Services officer, her experience is limited in actual law enforcement and more in the field of security (I'm sorry if that is offensive to anyone, but it's reality.) When you know nothing but "small town policing," you're not going to know how to deal with a situation your metropolitan counterparts handle on a day-to-day basis.

There's no real "protocol" for a situation. You have to use judgment. If you have poor judgment (read: common sense), you're not going to make a very good cop.

As for the TCSO vehicle, I'm assuming it was one of the first cars there to help the TESC officer.

I can't reiterate this enough: I'm shocked nobody was shot and injured or killed. A large group surrounding a single officer and - by some accounts - reaching for her weapon? Taking control of a vehicle containing either a shotgun or assault rifle?

These people are not thinking their actions through and are only going to grow more bold with each incident that goes unpunished.

They want to fight a "war" in the street (both the Port protesting and Dead Prez lyrics make as much clear) and eventually that's what they're going to get.

Answers a lot of questions. 

The story so far: In the beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people mad and been widely regarded as a bad idea. -The Restaurant at the end of the Universe