Wherever protesters go, police follow. Despite occasional skirmishes between the people who enforce the government’s rules and the people who disagree with the government’s policies, many watchdog groups said interactions have been largely positive.
Numerous citizen marches, rallies and events have brought the controversial war in Iraq to local communities. As groups gather to speak out about war, police forces have been close at their heels, working not only to safeguard the community, but also to protect participants from possible danger.
“Our idea is to allow these things to continue peacefully,” said Eugene Police Department Capt. Steve Swenson, the officer in charge of EPD’s special operations division. “We want to allow people to use their First Amendment rights. This is the United States, and we want to ensure people the right to demonstrate responsibly and safely.”
Police often position themselves at the border of a crowd to direct traffic and observe crowd activity, as they did during the March 15 war protest in Portland and at smaller Eugene-area rallies. They also watch for illegal activity and use force to make arrests when necessary.
Despite their differences, police officers and rally participants work toward similar goals: Both groups say they want to protect human life.
The media often fail to capture the positive — yet uneventful — exchanges between police forces and event participants, according to Dan Handelman, a member of Portland group Copwatch. Handelman said that media tend to focus on the
problems occurring at events, even if they involve only a few people, rather than on the participants’ overall message. He added the individuals causing problems with police forces are often not associated with the main event and are merely “troublemakers.”
Campus protests and events have been largely peaceful, Department of Public Safety Interim Director Tom Hicks said. DPS officers work with organizers of events to ensure a safe environment.
“Generally, there’s been some preparation beforehand,” Hicks said. “We first try to gain the cooperation of the organizers and form agreements about what is going to occur at the event.”
DPS officers make uniformed showings at scheduled campus events, and Hicks said officers are ready to take action if an event is unsafe or if activities disrupt normal University business.
“If an order is given by either a DPS or EPD officer, it is in the students’ best interest to comply,” Hicks said. “So far, people have been pretty cooperative. Events have been done in safe manner and have not disturbed the University.”
But events scheduled off campus have not been as peaceful or cooperative, Eugene Peace Works Board Member Phil Weaver said.
“We’ve had a mixed relationship with police,” Weaver said. “There’s been a real lack of
genuineness on the part of the police in terms of their willingness and desire to work with the anti-war movement.”
Weaver cited EPD’s continued use of video cameras and surveillance during marches as a sign of distrust toward activists. Instead of attempting to intimidate participants, he said he would like to see police officers maintain safety during marches.
“It’s a political statement by the police to be breaking up peaceful protests,” Weaver said. “It would be very easy for police to remain peaceful.”
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