Showing posts with label Norm Stamper. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Reminders of 1999 WTO - Ex-Seattle police chief: ‘Appalling’ to use tear gas on peaceful protesters

LISTEN HERE:
Ex-Seattle police chief: ‘Appalling’ to use tear gas on peaceful protesters | The Raw Story

A former Seattle police chief says that the post-9/11 militarization of police forces across the U.S. has led to the abuse of non-violent activists in the Occupy movement.

Author and activist Norm Stamper told BBC that he resigned as Seattle’s police chief after the tear gas used on demonstrators at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting caused a passive protest to turn violent.

“After the tear gas, many previously non-violent demonstrators turned much more active, much more militant and in some cases violent in response to the violence they experienced,” he recalled. “We saw what looked and felt very much like a war zone over the next three days and in effect we started it.”

“The cop in me had made that decision not to step in and stop it,” he added. “But as police chief, I should have done precisely that, and I will regret forever that I didn’t do it.”

The War at Home: Militarized Local Police Tap Post-9/11 Grants to Stockpile Combat Gear, Use Drones

A new report by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that since 9/11, local law enforcement agencies have used $34 billion in federal grants to acquire military equipment such as bomb-detection robots, digital communications equipment and Kevlar helmets. "A lot of this technology and the devices have been around for a long time. But as soon as they have, for instance, a law enforcement capability, that’s a game changer," says George Schulz, with the Center for Investigative Reporting. "The courts and the public have to ask, how is the technology being used by a community of people—police—who are endowed with more power than the rest of us?’" Local police departments have also added drones to their tool kit. In June, a drone helped local police in North Dakota with surveillance leading to what may be the first domestic arrests with help from a drone. The American Civil Liberties Union has issued a new report that calls on the government to establish privacy protections for surveillance by unmanned aerial drones, especially of people engaged in protests. "We believe that people should not be targeted for surveillance via drones just because they’re they are engaged in First Amendment-protected activity," says Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. [includes rush transcript]