Seattle Press on Line - City Council candidates on police conduct at large public events

City Council candidates on police conduct at large public events

Sep 13, 2001 -- Seattle Press: How will you, as a City Councilmember, instruct the police to handle the next anniversary of WTO? Mardi Gras?

Position 2

(incumbent, Richard Conlin)

Dakotta JK Alex: I would have more officers in civilian clothing.

James Egan: N30: Police must remember that the vast majority of protestors at the "N30" day in Seattle will be peaceful people. Some will have issues they want to promote, and a few others will want to incite others to riot. Most, however, may be local citizens seeking to be part of the crowd, just for the excitement. Police must keep in mind that those citizens have a First Amendment right to be in the street, and that freedom of speech should not be abridged.
I would instruct the police to intermingle with the crowd, and not in riot gear. Rather, they could talk with people, listen to people, and pass out "N30 Peace Pins" which designate a protestor as professing non-violent and non-criminal protest. …Have the city set up microphones and music in Westlake Park for protestors to organize and speak…
Mardi Gras: This particular event might best be handled by converting Pioneer Square into a beer garden each night, say from 7:00 p.m. until the early hours the next day. A security fence could be put around the perimeter, and access points monitored by police. As people go in, their identification is scanned quickly by a reader. This will ensure a few basic things:
1) All persons drinking are 21 and over.
2) Bringing drugs into the beer garden (past police) is probably not a good idea.
3) Medics on hand, coordinating with police if necessary.
4) All identities of participants are stored by identification scanning machine.
5) Although exposure of women's breasts would be tolerated to some degree, officers could ensure that women are not mauled or abused.

Michael Preston: The mayor is in charge of telling the police how to handle these events. I would hope that the police would first of all enforce the law, and secondly, respect the rights of citizens to peacefully protest.

Position 4

(incumbent, Jan Drago)

Jan Drago: The City Council is the legislative branch and determines policy. It is the Mayor’s responsibility to instruct department heads.

Curt Firestone: WTO: We must protect the rights of people to demonstrate and express their political opinion. I will call on the demonstrators and the police to show respect for each other. Police should assist with peaceful demonstrations enabling citizens to express themselves. Police only have to intercede with demonstrators when there is property damage or there is a personal assault.
Mardi Gras: I support the recommendations of the Pioneer Square Events Task Force creating a February Fest. This will become wonderful family festival celebrating Mardi Gras and the police should be present to enable everyone to have a good time.

Susan Harmon: It is the Mayor who instructs the police chief who instructs the department. However, as a City Councilmember I have the privilege and responsibly to publicly speak up on matters that directly impact the welfare of the citizens of the city. I would hope that, should there be a march on the anniversary of WTO, organizers of the march would work cooperatively with the police. I have worked with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in many neighborhood situations and have, for the most part, had very good relationships with SPD. I have always been concerned that SPD has taken the rap for the out-of-line behavior of cowboys from other jurisdictions. The problems at WTO (I marched) with police officers were the lack of coordination between different police jurisdictions and the cowboy mentality of some officers, the vast majority of whom were not Seattle police officers. As for Mardi Gras, the city must insist [that] organizers of an event plan for all contingencies. I also am still in emotional pain that officers were not allowed to do their job and keep people from being assaulted. This is symptomatic of the breakdown in communication between all of us.

Position 8

(incumbent, Richard McIver)

Grant Cogswell: I would have the police be gentle and accommodating, not attack people engaging in nonviolent protest, and protect property and the safety of the public with reasonable and discriminate force.
When people are being assaulted, however, the police must intervene. Speaking in the same sentence of WTO and Mardi Gras is comparing apples and oranges.

Stan Lippmann: Freedom of Assembly is a cornerstone of our rights. Police should not confront peaceful protests with a riot line. But before a drunken brawl breaks out, the police must enter the crowd and stop the instigators immediately.

Richard McIver: I believe the Police Department has learned valuable lessons from both WTO and Mardi Gras. In both of these incidents, the police lost control of the streets.
Public safety is among the first responsibilities of government. With WTO, the police over-responded after initially failing to control the situation. In the case of Mardi Gras, they seemed to fear doing the same, and in the end, did little to protect citizens. While the balance may not always be easy to establish, that is their charge.
The Council is currently considering a Special Events ordinance, as well as revising the emergency powers of the Mayor, working to ensure that things don’t get out of hand, while not infringing upon constitutionally guaranteed liberties.
It is imperative that those who feel they have been abused by police have an opportunity to be heard in a fair and impartial setting. I championed the creation of the Office of Professional Accountability, a body that will be fair to both citizens and police. Unfortunately, the Police Officers Guild has to date delayed the appointment of the citizen members of the panel, a situation that must be addressed.

Heath Merriwether: As an event planner and candidate I have met with the police chief on this matter. I offered him basic event planning outline for these types of occurrences. I would instruct the police to take care of isolated violence or vandalism while protecting the First Amendment rights of the peaceful protesters. When we fire tear gas on citizens we are not doing proper preventive policing. Our police department needs training regarding crowd control; the Chief and management are not adequately trained on effective crowd control methods without taking the most aggressive stance.

Jerome Wilson: We need to distinguish between a drunken rock-and-bottle melee and legitimate protest. To help us do this we need an independent, publicly elected civilian review board for the Seattle Police Department. One of the ways the city council can achieve citizen oversight of the police is by strengthening the current Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) Review Board. [The OPA should be given] access to unedited police records, subpoena, disciplinary and policy-making power, the ability to conduct independent investigations with its own staff and a mediation process.

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