Legal Commentary

'Preemptive' Arrests of Protesters in Twin Cities

By TChris

Borrowing from the Bush Administration's "preemptive war" playbook, police agencies in the Twin Cities made "preemptive strikes" against organizations planning to protest at the Republican National Convention.

Ramsey County authorities conducted raids across Minneapolis and St. Paul Friday and Saturday .... Five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids.

The police continue to be obsessed with groups that came to town to monitor police misconduct. [more ...]

On Saturday afternoon, law agents surrounded 951 Iglehart Av. in St. Paul where members of I-Witness Video, a New York-based group that monitors police conduct during protests, were staying. They were detained and handcuffed but eventually freed without charges.

St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune is upset at the Ramsey County Sheriff for stepping on the toes of the St. Paul police in conducting the raid against I-Witness Video.

"I'm really ticked off...the city is perfectly capable of taking care of things," Thune said. "If they had found anything that could have been used to commit a crime they would have arrested somebody."

Finding evidence of a crime wasn't the point of the raid. Sending a message was the point: the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department has no interest in having the conduct of its deputies monitored.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 30, 2008 (boomark / email).