NYPD Floats A Prison Ferry At Convention

[LSU_Subversive]

This link was sent to me by my generous housing host for the upcoming RNC counter protests. He's going to be a legal observer at the proceedings. See the Observer link below.


NYPD Floats A Prison Ferry At Convention
by Ben Smith

This column ran on page 1 in the 7/26/2004 edition of The New York Observer.

.....

The NYPD considered turning the troubled commuter ferry into a prison barge for some of the thousands of activists who could be arrested during the convention. A police official approached the city’s Department of Transportation in May with the ferry plan, one city official said. And Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne confirmed that converting the ferry into a floating prison "was discussed as an option."

But after stiff resistance from the Department of Transportation, the notion was apparently dropped.

"A very cursory inquiry was made by the Police Department, but our ferry division told them that all of the boats would be needed for use," said Tom Cocola, the agency’s spokesman.

Instead, city officials are readying unused space in regular jails, which are conveniently empty in this low-crime era. In an extreme case, the vacant Brooklyn House of Detention in downtown Brooklyn and the Queens House of Detention in Kew Gardens could be reopened, said the spokesman for the Department of Corrections, John Mohan.

.....

Protesters are making their own plans to respond to mass arrests.

Simone Levine, a member of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, said 120 legal-aid lawyers would be staffing the eight courtrooms—twice the usual number—that are expected to be open for arraignments during the convention week. (By law, arrestees must be brought before a judge within 24 hours of arrest.) The National Lawyers Guild will also staff each courtroom, offering representation to demonstrators too well-off to qualify for Legal Aid.

Ms. Levine said she didn’t expect many protesters to stage civil disobedience with the intent of being arrested.

"We haven’t heard of a lot of people attempting to get arrested. We’ve heard quite the opposite," Ms. Levine said. "A lot of people are scared that they’re getting arrested while they engage in peaceful protest."

http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage2.asp

[whistle]

1. Starting to sound like Chicago 1968....

...:wtf:

[LSU_Subversive]

2. Yes it is. I'm going anyways. Gotta do my part.

Not to make it like Chicago, that is. But to make my voice heard.