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Very sorry to hear about what happened to you!
On Tuesday 07 May 2002 03:51, Jeff Radford wrote:
> So what can be done? For one thing, I sure saw a lot
> of police activity overseeing the little Mayday
> demonstration that went on downtown last week; even
> the mounted patrol was out in force. There must have
> been one cop for every five demonstrators.
Further evidence that the MPD strategy is more about squelching political
dissent than to protect and serve regular taxpayers. I'm sorry I missed
watching this demo, except that those horse cops make me feel very unsafe.
I'm glad we didn't have them in the days I used to go to protests...
Later, after watching (from inside a business I was working at) the MPD
ride their horses into a crowd of men, women, and children(!) [a group who
was on the sidewalk and harming no one], I pretty much decided my days of
getting "into the streets" were over.
> So how about having some of those officers walking the
> Warehouse District, and every night of the week? It
> may not be as efficient as having them cruise the
> streets in cars, but a physical, viable police
> presence on the sidewalks would sure be reassuring to
> me right now.
Or bikes. More bike cops, please. They are less intimidating to regular
folks. In fact, so unintimidating that I watched a group of daytime
downtowners jaywalk across 8th Street and Nicollet right in front of two
of them (in the last week). And I don't just mean the bike cops were
nearby watching, the bike cops had to swerve to avoid the jaywalkers! As
I'd had the sense to stay on the curb, I was hoping to see the police
wrestle a few arrogrant pedestrians to the ground, mace them, and take
away their sneakers/loafers/pumps. Alas, my fantasies of equal justice
under law were left to fade, although one cop did tell the crowd that the
sign says "Don't Walk". I guess it's a good idea to be white and
well-dressed when breaking the law in plain sight of law enforcement.
But seriously, bike cops are excellent and I would encourage the City to
deploy more of them in the warmer months (when street traffic is
presumably up). On bikes they can cover more ground in the same time. They
have some ability to carry extra tools. They have more mobility, since a
bike can easily go many places a car can't... and they do it less
conspicuously, so they have more of an element of surprise.
Bikes (like beat patrols) also make it a lot easier for the police to stop
and participate in the community, at least say hello, help people, and
generally increase the amount of goodwill. That would be a very good
thing.
- -michael libby (Cleveland/North Mpls)
______Michael_C_Libby__{_x_(at)_ichimunki_(dot)_com_}______
| my website: http://www.ichimunki.com/ |
|____ public key at http://www.ichimunki.com/public.key ____|
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