ABC just reported that some cities will start suing protesters who

[Skidmore]

engage with the police. They are complaining about overtime costs for police. I'd love to see that contested in court. Do city budgets trump the right to free speech and assembly?


Now on to Barbara Walters and her Madoff is a person too schtick.

[spanone]

1. the more they push back....the more people will show up....imho

[Warren Stupidity]

2. the police are free to go about their normal activities.

There is no reason at all why they have to corral and control the people exercising their constitutional rights.

[KarenS]

5. Amen to that!! n/t

[redqueen]

8. But these crowds aren't on the side of the oligarchy, like the Tea Party crowd...

so they kind of do have to try to do something... anything... to prevent anyone from upsetting the status quo.

I wonder what they'll do next.

[pipi_k]

9. You know, I actually agree...

The police should just go about their normal duties and totally forget the fact that all those people are gathered in parks and wherever.

Let whatever is going to happen, happen.

The people would be on their own. Let them handle the policing of their own areas. If people behave peacefully...wonderful.

If they don't....well, too bad.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. From local occupy more than the standard detail

Is a waste...no serious.

[kestrel91316]

19. Snark directed toward OWS movement duly noted.

[Warren Stupidity]

24. do you actually think the police are there to protect the protesters?

Have you bothered to go to any of the occupations to see for yourself?

[randome]

31. Do you actually think people don't need police?

In any large group of people, there will be miscreants just as there will be in a police force.

If OWS doesn't get its shit together and all it's going to do is mill around on public property, eventually even the local citizens will want them to get the hell out.

Some people, I would imagine, don't want to go to a public park where a horde of people are sleeping.

[Warren Stupidity]

32. Again - please visit an occupation. You have no idea what you are talking about.

First - the police are there to corral the demonstrators, not to protect them. In NYC the entire financial district is a cordon of metal barriers, cops, paddy wagons, etc. all intended to prevent the exercise of first amendment rights. Second, this protest is self-policed, so to answer your question, no a police presence above and beyond what would be present in any park on a normal day is not required.

The police should go about their normal affairs of looking out for bad guys and stop acting as the unconstitutional agency of dissent suppression.

[Ignis]

27. Thanks for swinging by for a bit of "let them eat cake."

:eyes:

[kestrel91316]

18. [phone]

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. sue the 'complaining people' for wasting tax payers' money on lawsuits

can you imagine how much will be spent on lawsuits. Just leave the protesters alone fat cats.

[Aerows]

4. You can't get blood out of a turnip

A lot of these people have been hit hard by the recession, have lost their homes, or are drowning in student loan debt. This is a great idea - sue people whom you know can't pay (and you probably won't win the lawsuit against anyway) and end up wasting even more city money.

Do legislators ever THINK before they come up with the brilliant ideas? If you are going to try to intimidate people with big threats, at least make sure your threats make sense! LOL

[Logical]

6. Can I sue the police when they stop me for a fucking DUI checkpoint? No!

[Contrary1]

7. That's not what was said. I just backed up the report on my DVR to make sure I heard correctly...

They stated that "Today the police union said it had shown restraint, but would now sue any protester who injured an officer".

Edit to add link: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/10/occupy-protests-cost-cities-millions/ (5th paragraph)

[Aerows]

12. They need to stop worrying about suing protesters

And start worrying about the avalanche of lawsuits that are no doubt going to be directed at them. Do they think that by using heavy-handed tactics and trying to sue citizens that it's going to cost the city LESS money?

And what do the police officers think is going to happen to them once the city decides it has run out of money and it's no longer popular to support them? It always rolls down hill, you know. Even those who are entirely peaceful are going to be affected by those who get heavy-handed and cause massive lawsuits.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I suspect this be jurisdiction by jurisdiction

Albany and OPD are two extremes.

[Tesha]

25. THey should be careful; they might open themselves to some interesting "discovery". (NT)

[BR_Parkway]

29. What are they going to sue for? Broken hand cause a protester got his face

in the way of it?

Talk about wasting more money

[and-justice-for-all]

11. Police more than likely instigate a large portion of the issues...

but their are also those on the other side that are responsible for some of the problems as well.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bluestateguy]

14. The police always have the option of just leaving the protestors alone

and not having an armed brigade around every time 100 protestors show up.

Problem solved. Next.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. a couple decades ago - no one would have been concerned that the courts would accept such law suites

But with the way so many of the federal courts and of course the U.S. Supreme Court has been packed with right-wing ideologues I can't help but wonder how some courts including the U.S. Supreme Court might rule. But if the courts should by chance betray the constitution they will be lighting a fuse. Those that make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

[coalition_unwilling]

17. ABC, the Mickey Mouse network (wholly-owned subsidiary of

Disney).

Suggestion for those poor put-upon police: STOP beating up unarmed and peaceful demonstrators and start arresting Wall St. criminals. WTF?

[markpkessinger]

20. The decision to deploy a massive police presence is a management decision . . .

. . . and a questionable one at that.

[edhopper]

21. Apparently Cities can be assholes too

And Barabara can suck Roy Cohen's dick.

[no_hypocrisy]

22. Ed Schultz said today that the police are loving the Occupy Movements

b/c of all the overtimes they're raking in.

[TheCowsCameHome]

23. Sue someone who is broke and saddled with student loans?

Good luck with that.

[Fumesucker]

26. It's a tactic so common it has a name..

SLAPP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_public_participation

[zbdent]

28. and what happens when the cops lose the case when it's proven that the

cops instigated the "engagement"? Wasn't there something about how the person/persons filing the "frivolous lawsuits" have to pay the court costs of the "winner"? Oh, of course ... that's when it's a rightie/corporation being sued ...

[tsuki]

30. The NYPD Sergeant's UNION made the claim that 20 officers had

been injured. When pressed for details with a FOIA, they ignored it.