I commented in OllieGarkey's diary the other day regarding law enforcement response to the #OccupyWallStreet protestors doing their thing in NYC, particularly in regards to the now infamous pepper spray incident involving Lt. Tony Bologna. I sat down with my commissioned law enforcement spouse to watch clip after clip of police action from the past week or so, trying to get a feel for how appropriate or inappropriate the police actions were. What we noticed is that yes, there are several videos out there showing what we believe to be unlawful arrests or, in the case of the pepper spray incidents, egregious attacks on protestors. However, there are quite a few examples floating around out there of protestors who in one way, shape or form did something to qualify as resisting arrest or just generally being out of compliance, meaning an arrest was legally justified. My purpose with this diary is to try and lay out a very basic guideline of what you can/cannot do around a police officer, in what circumstances a police officer can make an arrest, and just some general rudimentary police response techniques that you might encounter.
Disclaimer: Although my better half is in law enforcement, I am not, and as mentioned above, neither of us are residents of NYC. Their law enforcements standards may not always jibe with those here in the state of Arkansas. Also, neither of us are lawyers, so don't take this as real legal advice.
The point is that we want these protests to be successful--we want everyone's voices to be heard. Run-ins with the NYPD distract from the message and can actually harm the image we want the public to see. So follow me below the weird squiggle, and we'll dive in to the volatile world of policing and protesting.
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