If the Wall Street protests have done nothing else. I hope we've at least learned one thing.

[white_wolf]

The police are not on our side. Sure, there may be some police who are, but the vast majority have became little more than paid defenders of the ruling class. The current police brutality on Wall Street shows this very well. New York's finest my ass, the protestors are a lot more worthy of that title than the thugs who are attacking them.

[NightWatcher]

1. Cops have: harmed/harassed me 4 times, helped me 0

Don't talk to the police. Avoid them whenever possible.

[DontTreadOnMe]

2. They should be chanting "Which side are you on?"

The cops should be shamed for what they are doing!

[Broderick]

3. No longer have to protect and serve

Been removed from most cars nationwide.

[EFerrari]

4. Occupy Wall Street: "Mace-in-the-face" officer named in 2004 protest abuse claim

http://boingboing.net/2011/09/26/occupy-wall-street-mace-in-the-face-officer-named-in-2004-protest-abuse-claim.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=36761

[cyberpj]

5. Do you have any idea how many US police forces have been trained by Blackwater? er, I mean Xe....

This is from a 2007 article - so you can just imagine what the numbers are today....

Blackwater Training US Police (list) Sat Oct 18th 2008, 09:25 AM
This article is from 2007,
I'm sure they've spread their tactics far and wide since then.

I fear the increased violence used dealing with protestors, even war vets, could have something to do with this federally approved way for states to spend their homeland security funds.

I fear even more the implications of nationwide training of law enforcement by this particular contractor that does not appear to be subject to standard US laws.


Blackwater Training US Police

snip-
On October 14, the Washington Post ran a story, which included photographs from Blackwater's Moyock training center. However, what was most intriguing was a photograph of a police and military patch board at Blackwater's headquarters that indicated the police agencies that have sent their officers to Moyock for training.

Blackwater is secretive about its non-federal, as well as its foreign clients, which the Post pointed out includes Jordan, Azerbaijan, and Burkina Faso, but a WMR inspection of the photograph of the police agencies has yielded the following list of agencies that have used Blackwater for training:

1. Iowa Department of Natural Resources
2. Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff's Department
3. Matthews, North Carolina Police
4. Atlanta Police
5. Chillicothe, Ohio Police
6. Charleston, South Carolina Police
7. Port Chester, NY Police
8. Highland, Indiana Police
9. Unalaska, Alaska Police
10. Metropolitan Washington, DC Police
11. Charlottesville, Virginia Police
12. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (Dulles and Reagan National Airports)
13. St. Louis County Police (Missouri)
14. Queen Anne's County, Maryland Police
15. Prince George's County, Maryland Police
16. FBI SWAT Team
17. Gloucester Township, New Jersey Police
18. Tempe, Arizona Police
19. New York Police Department
20. Yonkers, New York Police
21. Fairfax County, Virginia Police
22. Maplewood, New Jersey Police
23. Gastonia, North Carolina Police
24. Tampa Police
25. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
26. DeKalb County, Georgia Police
27. Arlington County, Virginia Police
28. Baltimore Police
29. U.S. Coast Guard
30. Suffolk, Virginia Police
31. Franklin City, Virginia Police
32. Milford, Delaware Police
33. University of Texas Police
34. Norfolk, Virginia Police
35. Ottawa-Carleton, Canada Police
36. San Bernardino County, California Sheriff
37. Plattsburgh, New York Police
38. Chicago Police Department
39. Oregon State Police
40. Los Angeles Police Department
41. Tonawanda, New York Police
42. Special Forces of Colombia
43. Jacksonville, North Carolina Police
44. Harvey Cedars, New Jersey Police
45. Elmira, New York Police
46. Department of Corrections, New Jersey
47. Lexington, Kentucky Police
48. Willimantic, Connecticut Police
49. Georgia Department of Law Enforcement
50. City of Fairfax, Virginia Police
51. Alexandria, Virginia Police Special Operations
52. Illinois State Police
53. Dallas, Texas Police
54. Hamilton, Ohio Police
55. Morganton, North Carolina Police

A number of the police departments that have been trained by Blackwater have abysmal civil rights and police brutality records, most notably the Chicago Police and Illinois State Police, both cited by former Illinois Governor George Ryan as being guilty of police misconduct in his decision to commute the death sentences of Illinois' death row inmates. It was a decision that likely had much to do with his indictment by the Bush administration on corruption charges -- political misuse of the Department of Justice that has been seen in the indictments and investigations of Alabama former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and HealthSouth former CEO Richard Scrushy, Qwest's former CEO Joseph Nacchio, Democratic campaign contributor Martha Stewart, Coastal Corporation's former Chairman and Democratic contributor Oscar Wyatt, and Democratic-leaning trial attorneys around the United States, as well as the firings of several U.S. Attorneys who refused to engage in political prosecutions, and a Justice Department workup on North Carolina presidential candidate John Edwards in 2004.

snip-

Citizens have a distinct opportunity of confronting their local elected city, county, and town officials over Blackwater training of their police officers. Local officials should be pressured to reveal the numbers and identities of officers trained by Blackwater, the subjects covered by the training, the revenues spent, and a public demand should be made to cease and desist in such training.

[WilliamPitt]

6. The police follow orders.

For the most part.

Remember that, too.

[tama]

14. And so did

concentration camp guards. And military shooting peacefull demonstrators anywhere and attacking other country in illegal war. We remember and following orders is no excuse for forgetting conscience.

[joshcryer]

16. Their orders are not to protect people, their orders are to protect property, and any laws...

...that ensure the protection of property. Public safety is only incidental. For instance, they were ordering people to get out of the street; on a street totally blocked off by police presence. How is that helping public safety?

[LeftyMom]

7. Just now figured that out? Let me guess, you grew up middle class, and you're white. nt

[white_wolf]

8. Actually I've known that for a while, the protests just make it much clearer.

[Luminous Animal]

10. Oh please. Do you have to be so fucking nasty. Being familiar with the OP it is clear that she/he

is making a point.

[DJ13]

9. Give it a little more time, and more layoffs and pay cuts

Many will come around when they see what kind of people they're now defending.

[white_wolf]

11. I think some will, yes.

[provis99]

12. it takes kind a warped personality to be a cop.

Basically, you've got to be someone who likes to carry a gun, a club, handcuffs, and drive a heavy, fast car recklessly.
Someone who fits the criteria to be a cop sounds like either a sadist or a sex pervert...

[Dragonfli]

13. I learned that over thirty years ago when I was beaten for being poor and a teanager

More than once in fact, also If you talk back (yes I said talk) or try to defend yourself by putting your hands up to cover your face, you will be arrested for assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. This is nothing new, my own grandmother told me, "If you need help, don't talk to the police, try to find a neighbor or someone with a child of their own".

I taught my niece the same thing, I know what happened to some teenage girls in my old neighborhood and cops are never charged with rape.

I would like to believe they are there to protect and serve, but if any are they are rare indeed (I suppose those that grow up in "nice" areas have a different experience, but I can not prove that)

[joshcryer]

15. I just hope in the future we don't blame the protesters for police actions, and call it PSYOPS...

...or infiltrators. The arrests always go this way. Always. The black bloc is always blamed but the black bloc is always a response to arrests, it's passive. The bloc has been kept at bay here (due to a mutual understanding that if it gets violent things will end) but if the entire thing starts to collapse expect it to rear its head as it won't go down with a fight. And of course they'll be called PSYOPS infiltrators as usual. Someone might even find a new picture of infiltrators wearing police shoes. (I'm of the opinion that even if there are infiltrators they cannot control a mass movement and those infiltrators are there to observe and arrest people, instigation is not necessary because at that point it has already gone too far, with police publicly arresting everyone.)

[KurtNYC]

17. what has happened so far is nothing compared to what went on in 2004

it was like the protest olympics here.

264 bike riders arrested before the GOP even started (8/28/04):
http://articles.cnn.com/2004-08-28/politics/rnc.bike.protest_1_cyclists-protesters-bike-route?_s=PM:ALLPOLITICS

900 arrested in one day (9/1/04)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/01/politics/campaign/01protest.html

"thousands arrested" using orange nets (9/2/04)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/sep2004/prot-s02.shtml

[TBF]

18. It's a process - look at how much the people in Greece have learned

we will get better at this as we go along. Austerity hasn't even hit here yet. It's going to be quite eye-opening when the cops are beating up on the homeless elderly.