In one of the least professional acts I have seen in a long, long time, the Oakland Police Officer’s Association has published an open letter to the community questioning the Mayor:
We represent the 645 police officers who work hard every day to protect the citizens of Oakland. We, too, are the 99% fighting for better working conditions, fair treatment and the ability to provide a living for our children and families. We are severely understaffed with many City beats remaining unprotected by police during the day and evening hours.
As your police officers, we are confused.
On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property.
Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before.
To add to the confusion, the Administration issued a memo on Friday, October 28th to all City workers in support of the “Stop Work” strike scheduled for Wednesday, giving all employees, except for police officers, permission to take the day off.
That’s hundreds of City workers encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against “the establishment.” But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line?
It is all very confusing to us.
It’s not very confusing at all. Putting aside the fact that I don’t think I have seen a police force of a major city attempt to publicly shit on the Mayor since the days Rudy Giuliani was fomenting riots in NY, here is what happened. The Mayor ordered you in to clear out the plaza. You goons got dressed up in your body armor and helmets and riot gear, and went out and over-reacted. You shot an Iraq war veteran in the head with a tear gas canister, braining him, crushing his skull, and sending him to the hospital where he is still unable to speak. Not done with your thuggish bullshit, you then threw flash-bang grenades at the people trying to save his life. Even worse for you, you can’t lie about it, because it was all caught on tape. Here it is again in case you missed it:
You aren’t stopping “rioting, violence, and destruction of property” by shooting people standing peacefully five yards away from you. You are creating rioting.
So what the mayor is doing now is trying to do some damage control. While she may embrace the spirit of the #OWS movement, she clearly did not want any bad behavior taking place, so she called you in. But you shit the bed, didn’t you? And it isn’t the first time, either. Being a police misconduct lawyer in Oakland is quite lucrative, because of you. From the flatfoots on the beat to BART officers gunning down riders, you guys have created quite an impression.
So it isn’t confusing at all. Maybe you should sit down, take off your taser and put down your riot baton, and think on it a minute. At least have the good sense to think about it for a little bit before penning another asinine open letter.
David in NY
Too many of our police are feeling entitled to do whatever they wish. The recent signs at the arraignment of some policemen accused of routinely fixing traffic tickets for family, friends and, probably, bribers. Their motto, “It’s not a crime, it’s a courtesy.” In other words, it’s a crime if we say it is, and it’s not if we don’t.”
OzoneR
I’m old enough to remember when Jean Quan was the Asian Howard Dean
Tom
I don’t know all the details about what happened in both cities, but do know that in Chicago police were able to peacefully arrest hundreds of protesters while directing those who didn’t want to be arrested across the street where they encouraged them to stay in support of those arrested.
Chris
I’ve heard the conservative defense to this: the protestors were attacking the cops by throwing things at them. Of course, the only thing they were actually seen throwing were paint “bombs,” but the cops say they threw bottles, rocks and really dangerous things at them, and why would they lie?
Besides, the mayor told them to evacuate the plaza, so it’s all okay.
Agree with the first comment here, too.
Robert
Technical correction: the horrendous and shitty BART police are a separate agency from the horrendous and shitty Oakland PD. We’re twice-blessed out here.
Keith G
So you plan to skip the Oakland Meet Up?
SFPoet
John, you make a good point that the Mayor reacted to the heinous actions of the Police that night.
However, living in the Bay Area and supporting the Occupy movement this is an interesting letter.
People here are incredibly angry with the Oakland Mayor, and a recall campaign has a lot of support.
The OPD is right that they’ve gotten contradictory orders. When the Occupation first started, the Mayor strongly supported it. Then she ordered it to be cleared out.
The cost of removing the camp and the protest was enormous. It wasn’t just the Oakland PD, there were 17 law enforcement agencies involved.
The day after the protest where Scott Olsen was injured, several Elementary schools in Oakland were closed due to lack of funds. That also pissed people off to no end.
It is also odd that City workers are being encouraged to participate in the protests tomorrow, while every member of the police is expected to be on duty at that protest.
It’s too bad that Mayors aren’t following the example of Los Angeles where the Mayor ordered LAPD to respect the protesters. There have been no clashes there, and expenses have been minimal compared to other cities.
I was also surprised by the letter saying “we too are the 99%” During confrontations occupiers around the country will ask the police to stop by chanting “You are the 99%” Hopefully, Oakland PD is starting to listen.
I’m not supporting the letter, you may be right that it’s ‘their fault’ for the confusion. But, I wanted to say to anyone who isn’t local: there are a lot of issues here that the letter is addressing.
freddie
They,(Police) all come from the Military, its not that hard to understand after 12+ years of war.
Just be happy they haven’t un-leashed the drones yet. Its coming. 6 now on the Texas/Mex border.
Chris
@freddie:
It’s popular in foreign policy circles to diss counterinsurgency by saying “soldiers shouldn’t be doing police work.” No one seems worried that in the meantime, we’ve got cops doing soldier work back at home.
LT
Right on, John. Not unlike the sickening Bronx police cheers of fellow cops – corrupt cops.
Jamie
I have to agree with SFPoet – is is more complicated than John is making it out to be. Both. Quan and the OPD/co-thugs shit the best on this one. They are both doing damage control as best they can, and they really are different power centers.
Now, I’m about the last person to defend the OPD – having lived in both places, I feel pretty confident in saying they are more corrupt and thuggish than the NYPD.
I think both Quan and the OPOA are being opportunistic, and the one positive thing is opportunism is leading them to back down from cracking skulls and try to get in front of a genuinely sympathetic and popular movement that is doing some good.
SFPoet
Well said, Jamie. I’m no fan of OPD either, and hopefully you’re right about that “one positive thing.”
I don’t mean to keep making long comments, but I forgot to mention a couple of things.
The Mayor didn’t order the camps cleared because of “bad behaviour.” After Bloomberg was unsuccessful in clearing Zucotti Park for “cleaning,” cities used the same ‘health and safety’ tactic as an excuse to raid occupy camps.
What the news doesn’t tell you is that occupiers do their best to maintain the camps, and try to co-operate with the cities and run into roadblocks from local officials.
For example, when Occupy SF moved to Justin Herman Plaza the city promised to provide non-potable water to wash up and porta-potties. Days and then over a week went by, and they sent the health dept. to cite them for exaggerated violations.
Finally, a local activist group donated to have porta-potties and a wash station sent to the camp.
Also, police funding in Oakland has been cut back so much that there are crimes that the police have been ordered NOT to respond to anymore. Those crimes include burglary, identity theft and several others.
That’s another reason that people are pissed off at the amount of money being spent on police harassment of protesters.
daveX99
Heh. I knew that link to the police misconduct attorney would go straight to John Burris. I worked as a file clerk in the Oakland City Attorney’s office in the early 90’s. John Burris was a fairly regular face around that office.
I spent a goodly portion of my time chained to the copier, working my way thru stacks of Internal Affairs files. Remember the Rough Riders?
I learned so much at that job.
-d.
Jay C
This letter from the OPD is fairly strange one AFAICT. On one hand, it reads like they are trying to express some sort of sympathy with the OO protesters (“we, too are the 99%”), but on the other, provide an excuse or – more charitably, an explanation – of having rousted and tear-gassed the Occupiers: all the while carefully trying to shift the blame onto Mayor Quan and/or her Administration.
I suppose it is a positive sign, of sorts: their open letter does read like fearful bullsh&t, to be sure: but at least somebody at OPD seems to have felt the need to officially distance themselves from the perceived abuses – in the name of all 645 officers, too.
Pace John, it may indeed not be “professional”: but since the typical professional city police-department response to accusations of mishandling demonstrations is usually stonewalling silence, knee-jerk defensiveness, or a baton to the groin, the OPOA’s letter may actually be an improvement.
Carl Nyberg
The Oakland PD was under court order not to use rubber bullets, pepper spray and other weapons because of past abuses.
The Oakland PD used rubber bullets and tear gas (which is more indiscriminate than pepper spray).
It seems implausible that the Oakland PD chose to violate this court order without assurances from prosecutors with jurisdiction the department and its senior officers were not making themselves liable to be prosecuted.
Which prosecutors have jurisdiction? The country prosecutor. The California AG. And the Justice Department (U.S. Attorney Northern California District).
The fight between the cops and the mayor is somewhat interesting, but small potatoes compared to multiple prosecutors signing-off on an agreement to look the other way when the Oakland PD violated a court order and used rubber bullets against non-violent citizens exercising First Amendment rights.
I wrote a letter to Rep. Barbara Lee requesting that she call for special prosecutors to investigate and prosecute the unlawful action of the Oakland PD.
Carl Nyberg
@David in NY:
I asked a grade school friend (medically retired cop) about the training she received in Forest Park, IL.
She said her training was that citizens were expected to follow the instructions of police when to disburse.
And there was no training about questioning orders from the chain of command.
The military does at least cover the possibility that orders are unlawful. I get the impression police officers receive zero training on when to disobey an order or what procedure to follow.
Carl Nyberg
@Chris:
Is herding cattle into a slaughterhouse “soldier work”?
As a military veteran I take umbrage to the idea that shooting and gassing non-violent demonstrators is military work.
It’s not remotely like the work I did in the military. It’s not remotely like what I was trained to do.
I’m with Sgt. Shamar Thomas. There is no honor is using weapons against unarmed civilians.
Joey Maloney
@Carl Nyberg:
QFT
dis·burse (ds-bûrs) tr.v. To pay out, as from a fund; expend.
Jamie
@Carl-
You are correct, it is nothing like what real military does, in the U.S. tradition. In that sense, calling this sort of thing ‘paramilitary’ does a disservice to our vets. (I am not a vet.)
It is, unfortunately, increasingly similar to the way military force is used domestically in places that we like to complain about, even if we support the 1% there. And the DHS is still handing out armor, military weaponry, and now drones to cops, and the military industries coming up with newer weapons and advanced surveillance gear are looking carefully at “adjacent markets” – cops – to maximize ROI.
Not to be paranoid, but at some point, the differences in training start to look deliberate – there’s enough money there to do U.S. military tradition right, if that were what was desired.
punkdavid
The “BA” in BALCO stood for “Bay Area”, didn’t it?
Hmm…
Bubblegum Tate
@Chris:
I’ve heard conservatives straight up say that there’s no proof that it was the police who shot that guy in the head with a tear gas canister and even if that did happen, it couldn’t have busted his head up like that and besides, he went down there to riot, so he got what he deserved.
Yup.
Nutella
@SFPoet:
That’s the most interesting thing to follow up: Who authorized the very unusual and very expensive operation with all those other agencies? That had to be done at a pretty high level. Surely the police chief of Oakland can’t just call around and ask all of them to wander on over for a shindig.
TEL
@Jamie: @SFPoet: I agree completely. I also live in Oakland, and wanted to make the same point about the situation being more complicated than the post suggests. Jean Quan is hardly an innocent party in this. We have a massively understaffed and underfunded police department (like everything else in Oakland!) whose chief recently resigned – before the Occupy Oakland incident – partly because of the lack of support of the mayor’s office. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
Jamie
I just want to be clear – NYC cops are thuggish and manipulative, to get the outcome they want, as opposed to something like justice. OPD cops are simply worse, and more dangerous.
To anyone occupying Oakland: be careful. I wouldn’t see this as a message of solidarity, or whatever. This is PR. I’m sure some cops support you. Get to know them. Talk about your kids, or jobs. Ask about theirs. Take pictures with them.
Annelid Gustator
@Jay C: Jay it wasn’t from the OPD, it was from the OPOA: the Oakland cops’ union.
Moonbatman
That is why I support the Police unions working to ban the recording of Police.
Civilian without Law Enforcement experience should not judge the actions of Police.
Free Persecuted Political Prisoners and Social Justice Warriors Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky!!!!
Joe Max
@SFPoet:
Yes, it’s addressing how much the OPD dislikes having to take orders from “civilians.”
The reason they hate Quan so much is that she was forcing them to comply with the federal consent decree in the Riders case, something ex-mayor Ron Dellums couldn’t be bothered to wake up from his nap time to do. It’s the real reason ex-Chief Batts quit, he hated having to comply with a court order to clean up the OPD. It was no “bombshell”, he had his new gig at Harvard all lined up in advance.
The East Bay Express has an excellent analysis for the non-Oaklanders here, including “SF Poet.”
/on strike today!
//heading over to the Plaza to catch Robert Reich’s speech
FormerSwingVoter
@Chris:
Heh indeedy. It doesn’t strike them as a bad idea to use the literal exact same argument as the British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre?
sfbevster
KTVU-TV, channel 2 in Oakland (a Fox affiliate) has developed yet another way to demonize the scary protestors – they’re bad for small business. Last nite (Tues.) they interviewed the head of the local Chamber of Commerce, who mournfully informed us that several businesses representing hundreds of jobs had decided against locating in Oakland because of those damned hippies at 14th & Broadway. Maybe I’ve been out of the loop, but I’m simply not aware of businesses lined up to bring good jobs to central Oakland.
Is this the best they can do?
xian
@Nutella: they have a mutual-aid agreement. not sure who triggered/authorized it. lots of sheriffs offices involved.
TEL
@Joe Max: I don’t completely agree with this. I do agree that OPD, under Batts’ leadership, hasn’t done nearly enough to clean up. It wasn’t Quan pushing OPD, it was a court-appointed monitor. In fact, there’s a real chance that control of OPD could get turned over to outside control (http://tinyurl.com/3krw3q8). Batts was considering leaving long before any of this information came out, however, and not because Quan was pushing him to comply with the court order (http://tinyurl.com/6ae3s4u).
James
Indeed this is a complicated situation . As someone who has seen the videos of Police in n.y.c. arrest a 14 year old girl and pepper spray people indiscriminately I can imagine just how dicey it has become in Oakland . Perhaps the occupations are beginning to work in a very significant way .Soon municipalities are going to have to do the math concerning their expenditures , and consider their budgets .Towns like Oakland ,and so many others are near broke and are operating on the brink of bankruptcy .Orange County lost millions of dollars in their pension funds and coiffures due to investing in derivatives.(orange County did not get bailed out ,the Brokerages that sold those toxic and fraudulent derivatives ,they did however receive a bailout .With 9%(or greater) unemployment,which allows people “free time” and a growing movement the expense of “policing” these demonstrations will be unaffordable for municipalities .Then the federal government may have to consider that the price of stimulus and banking reform may be cheaper than policing the demonstrations .The other alternative of course in Marshall law.
Getting the Police Union to admit in print that “they are the 99%” is a landmark success for the OWS. Previously the mainstream has referred to OWS as an amorphous movement with no clear goals.Well the Oakland Police just used the mainstream media’s newspaper to admit they indeed understand what the demonstrations are about and if they can’t be sympathetic due to their job and the culture of their department , they are by default empathetic because they too are suffering from the exact things the occupiers are demonstrating about.
Very shortly the cost of nationwide disruptions will be too much for municipalities and small businesses to bear , and then the question becomes : is it cheaper to disband the Federal Reserve System , and prosecute the criminals in the banking industry who have caused the financial disaster and current economic catastrophe through fraud ,thievery,corruption or do we prosecute demonstrators who are our neighbors,who have committed no crimes and stolen no money , and bankrupted no municipalities.Are we willing to go completely bankrupt as a nation , rather than to enact reform , and to prosecute bankers who have perpetrated fraud on our entire nation ?Thousands of protestors who recognize who stole money through banking fraud have been arrested ,and some beaten , and some harmed just for standing up and stating what has happened .And not one banker has been prosecuted.
Thank you to the Oakland Police Department for acknowledging you are part of the 99% of American struggling .I suggest you are arresting the wrong percentile .
Mxicoders
The reason they hate Quan so much is that she was forcing them to comply with the federal consent decree in the Riders case, something ex-mayor Ron Dellums couldn’t be bothered to wake up from his nap time to do.
Thanks
Lex
I’m with @SFPoet: It is perfectly possible to believe SOME MEMBERS OF the Oakland PD behaved criminally last week and should go to prison for it AND that ALL MEMBERS OF the Oakland PD are getting confusing and contradictory orders from their dilatory mayor.
But I think it’s appropriate to ask the Oakland PD and individual police officers: Whose side are you on? Because the time when you don’t have to choose is rapidly coming to an end.