On the street: Police presence
Originally uploaded by ilind
Things were much calmer downtown today, although I did see one arrest of a young man, apparently for going too far in taunting a group of police.
This was a typical scene downtown as small teams of police maneuvered around the city.
The mounted police unit was from Longmont, according to one of the officers. He said they’ve got 11 people in the unit and can put six on horses at any one time. They’re just one of numerous police units drawn in from surrounding cities and counties.
I’ve come away feeling sorry for these officers, mostly very young, mostly very hot, tired, and stressed. But that doesn’t make it any easier to accept this kind of militarization of a great city.
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I happen to live in Denver and I don’t see this as a”militarization” of Denver but as the elected officials doing their jobs by protecting the citizans, visitors, and business owners of Denver from some people who in the name of protest would cause chaos in Denver.
Granted , protesters have the right to their oppinions, and have the right to voice those opinions, but the ordinary people have rights also. When the some elements of the protesters become unrully and infringe upon those rights the presence of law inforcement becomes necessary.
Granted not all protesters are unrully, and granted, “guilt by association” is often leveled against all protesters, but we must remember that law inforcment is in place to protect the protesters as well.
Let’s not lable those men and women that have the very stressful job of controling very stressful situations. Instead, let’s try to make their jobs easier by respecting them, and by not inciting them to actions which only incite the protesters to become more unrully.