"B. Shoe" wrote: > And from where does the Minneapolis Police Department get its mandate to > make this a priority? I don't think it is from the vast majority of the > citizens of Minneapolis or even our current elected officials. They are > instead responding to the information they are getting at national > police conferences, exchanges with other police departments, training > videos, and from the FBI and other federal security agencies obsessed > about putting a stop to any expression of direct action by young people > and with little or no concern over our constitutional rights to freedom > of expression and assembly. > > This raises the question: to whom is the Minneapolis Police Department > really accountable? The citizens of Minneapolis and their elected > officials? Or something else?
If you've read my previous posts supporting the MPD, then you might have noticed that I'm fairly supportive of reasonable actions by the police. However, if what has been reported here is true, then the MPD does not have my support on this action. These tactics sound more like those used to control motorcycle gang runs, than bicyclists (no matter how liberal their politics). The LAPD used to see any minor infraction of the law as threat to their control of the streets, which lead to a number of totally unnecessary violent confrontations. I would suggest that in this case, it is the Department that needs to keep things in perspective. I think that it is entirely reasonable to ticket bicyclists for running red lights (which should be disruptive enough to insure that the group doesn't impede traffic), but arrests and confiscation are inappropriate. I agree with other posters who have said that mayor need to give this issue a little thought. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
