No one was more upset with the reduced role of the Republican National Convention than Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. After all, there isn’t much happening in the Twin Cities that offers national attention to fine police work normally, and this was his moment to shine.
In the photograph at right, Sheriff Fletcher shows how he has honed his skills in directing traffic. Note the casual attitude, yet firm command he exudes as he demonstrates his aptitude to a room full of reporters. Also on display in the background are both maps the department maintains, so that they know where they are at all times. Fletcher runs a very professional department. Most of the time.
Unfortunately, a crack appeared yesterday in the smooth control over incoming riff-raff when Fletcher’s men mistook the crew of Democracy Now! for violent anarchists. Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were seized and roughed up by St. Paul police. According to the Democracy Now! website :
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony.
It’s easy to understand the confusion when one takes a look at the videotape. Fletcher’s men were decked out in their finest black riot gear, looking quite macho and forceful. It’s not surprising that the riot gear looked absolutely pristine, as this was likely their first opportunity to put it on, other than certain non-sectarian holidays and parades.
This is why the two producers were arrested for “suspicion” of rioting. None of the black-dressed officers were entirely sure what an actual riot looked like, never having seen one in person before, but they assumed that if Sheriff Fletcher ordered them to get all dressed up in their finest black riot gear, then there had to be a darn good reason for it. Sheriff Fletcher is not a whimsical sort of fellow, you see.
Then, the situation took a turn for the worst when Democracy Now! host, journalist Amy Goodman, viciously assaulted the ears of the protectors of riotous-freedom by asking why they were arresting her producers. Rather than react in the best tradition of the mainstream media, and running in the other direction while dialing her cellphone for the corporate attorneys, Goodman resisted the police efforts to restore tranquility by employing her deceptively stentorian soprano to push their law and order button with the single most offensive word to police officers everywhere: why?
Little did Amy Goodman know of Sheriff Fletcher’s standing order to violently seize and gag anyone using the anarchist codeword “why” to undermine the police efforts to return the area to complete and unchallenged subjugation. Doesn’t Goodman get the idea that this is America, and you do whatever the cop tells you to do (and do it NOW!).
While not yet reported by any credible outlet anywhere, rumor has it that Sheriff Fletcher, upon seeing the videotape, chuckled and said, “And those Denver yahoos think they had something on me when they grabbed the ABC producer by the throat. Hah!”
Every four years, our children get an excellent lesson in the practice of democracy in America, watching and learning how those fine platitudes they learn in civics class are played out in the streets of one of America’s cities. This year, Sheriff Bob Fletcher has his turn to teach our kids a lesson. Don’t those police officers look handsome in their black riot gear?
And my appreciation to Jon Katz at Underdog and Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft for keeping a keen eye on the story on the streets while the glorious stage show of American politics is played out in large amphitheaters with dubiously attired delegates to the official political parties of the United States of America.
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Yech. More comments later; things are a: more complicated, b: better, and c: worse than they appear.
I agree it appeared to me that the riot sticks were freshly milled and the riot gear looked like it was just unpacked.
The incident looked to me to be Interference With Official Acts (IWOA) and that can be used to arrest anyone for anything. I wonder if the report that the charge was “Conspiring to Riot” is correct.
You hit the bulls-eye when you said “Why” is code for “arrest me”.
I knew that the J-dog would have the inside scoop on all of this. But don’t be a buzz-kill.
From all I’ve found, it does indeed appear to be riot-related, though the prefatory language changes from report to report. Could they perhaps have meant “laugh-riot”?
They can call it whatever they want, but I’m pretty sure the real crime was Misdemeanor Disrespect of Cop
This whole thing is a buzz-kill.
You’ve got a lot of stuff going on at the same time. First, you’ve got a national convention, which has legitimate security needs, particularly given the very real (and sometimes overt) threats. Be more than a little bit of a shame if the jerks (I’m being nice) managed to actually kill a bunch of Cub Scouts (or, for that matter, the old white oligarchs) attending the convention. (And, no, I’m not using a figure of speech when I’m talking about an attack on the Cub Scouts; it happened yesterday.)
In some ways, it’d be good if there were a large enough local police force to handle it all, but there isn’t; Saint Paul PD, while a decent enough department (I’m grading on the curve) doesn’t have the manpower.
So there’s going to be lots and lots of other agencies involved.
Enter Fletcher, Sheriff of Ramsey County. In Minnesota, Sheriffs Departments have two main functions: the usual jail/courthouse stuff, and handling regular law enforcement needs for small communities that don’t have their own PD. But the metro area sheriffs have always subject to the temptations of empire building, and Fletcher’s been more successful than most; he managed to grab the center seat for convention security.
SPPD didn’t much want it; Chief Harrington wasn’t tempted to try to run things with Fletcher’s foot on his shoulder.
It didn’t take a crystal ball to see what was going to happen when a megabuck budget and thousands of troops were put in the hands of an egotistical empire builder with political ambitions, and it pretty much did. Attempts by at least one commander in the SPPD to work with the peaceful (if not necessarily always law-abiding) protester types were sabotaged. (I don’t think I should have to point out all the advantages of the cops being able to know at least some of the players, do I? Kind of useful to be able to distinguish between the folks who want to march and chant and shout, those who want to peacefully albeit unlawfully interfere with stuff and get themselves peacefully arrested, and those who want to try to kill a bunch of Cub Scouts.)
So, you’ve got a lot of folks planning various sorts of activities ranging from the utterly lawful albeit noisy through the murderous, and an egotistical, camera-happy sheriff looking to grab headlines. Throw in a few compliant judges to issue warrants and some snatch-and-grab teams, and you’re going to have a mess.
Which is what we’ve got.
I’m at the 3000 character limit, and I haven’t even begun to convey how complicated and messy it is, nor gotten into how I want to put a pox on several houses.
Yup. They’re MPD. The toy budget was widely dispersed, it seems.
Protester Etiquette; Go Quietly into the Night?
There’s a significant difference when someone is on the receiving end of cop love because he’s engaged in an act of malevolence, as opposed to an exercise of a constitutional right.
Protester Etiquette; Go Quietly into the Night?
There’s a significant difference when someone is on the receiving end of cop love because he’s engaged in an act of malevolence, as opposed to an exercise of a constitutional right.
Protester Etiquette; Go Quietly into the Night?
There’s a significant difference when someone is on the receiving end of cop love because he’s engaged in an act of malevolence, as opposed to an exercise of a constitutional right.
FWIW, the affidavit that resulted in one of the warrants is now available here. There are moments of humor — see p. 12: “While examining the packets, Fitzgerald states ‘when we’re on trial for conspiracy and they show this as evidence, we’re going to be like, holy shit!'”
Be interesting to see how this all plays out.
(And, yeah, Confidential Informants can be agents provocateurs and/or liars, but just because a Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office employee’s lips are moving is not, in and of itself, proof that they’re lying.)
Just dropped in from the Internet, want to say THIS: Hah! I am an anarchist, have been one for literally forty years! Was in St. Paul and active on One September! Sheriff Bob is a hilarious fellow, ain’t he? Round us up, you *** you ain’t got ME yet!