(Oakland, CA) OPD shifts to 'smaller scale' tactics for Occupy

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Facing criticism from a federal court monitor for using "military-type" tactics against Occupy activists, Oakland police changed their strategy during Tuesday's May Day protests - swooping in on individual suspects instead of making mass arrests, keeping their beanbag guns holstered and using tear gas sparingly.

"This was our attempt to handle things on a smaller scale, in hopes of facilitating the majority's freedom to assemble," said Sgt. Christopher Bolton, chief of staff to Police Chief Howard Jordan.

On some levels, the effort appeared to succeed - 39 people were arrested, compared with more than 400 during a January protest, and vandalism was not as widespread as in other large Occupy actions.

Some critics, though, said the effort fell short, and that police had provoked protesters.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/05/02/BAJO1OC8TP.DTL

Also: "Judge losing patience with OPD's Occupy probes"

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6 replies	Author	Time	Post
(Oakland, CA) OPD shifts to 'smaller scale' tactics for Occupy (Original post)	alp227	May 2012	OP
Not that THEY can be trusted.	Dawson Leery	May 2012	#1
have ANY police been held accountable for their behavior at OWS events? Sgt Pepper Spray in Davis? n	msongs	May 2012	#2
In Minneapolis we are sort of lucky	Kalidurga	May 2012	#3
Police 'took their eye off the ball', and here's why...	FailureToCommunicate	May 2012	#4
That's brilliant.	EFerrari	May 2012	#5
Here's another photo of it	FailureToCommunicate	May 2012	#6

Response to alp227 (Original post)

Thu May 3, 2012, 12:08 AM

Dawson Leery (8,382 posts)

1. Not that THEY can be trusted.

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Thu May 3, 2012, 12:09 AM

msongs (30,529 posts)

2. have ANY police been held accountable for their behavior at OWS events? Sgt Pepper Spray in Davis? n

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Thu May 3, 2012, 01:24 AM

Kalidurga (4,822 posts)

3. In Minneapolis we are sort of lucky

We only had 6 squads that I could see, 8 cops on horseback, several on motorcycles, and several on bikes. This was for about 80-100 people at Loring Park, I don't know how many marchers I only saw them as they were leaving.

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Response to alp227 (Original post)

Thu May 3, 2012, 10:42 AM

FailureToCommunicate (4,399 posts)