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Jan 14, 2009 10:56 pm US/Central
Panel: Police Restrained In Handling RNC Protests
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
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A cordon of police block off an area as they detain people along the riverfront outside the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Xcel Energy Center Sept. 1, 2008 in St. Paul, Minn. (File)
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The police response to protests during the Republican National Convention was generally restrained and professional, an independent commission that reviewed police planning and procedures for the event said Wednesday.
But the report by a seven-member panel led by two former federal prosecutors also found some areas where they thought things could have been handled better, including the arrests of several journalists.
More than 800 protesters were arrested during the convention Sept. 1-4 in downtown St. Paul. Around 20 were charged with felonies.
In its 82-page report plus an 15-page executive summary, the commission said that in many respects city and police officials succeeded in their goals of protecting the convention from disruptions while ensuring that peaceful protesters could express themselves in a meaningful way.
"The convention proceeded without interruption. Delegates and guests were able to participate in the political process and express their First Amendment rights safely. Similarly, thousands of protesters marched and spoke out close to the convention site. During the four days of the convention, no one was seriously injured and there was limited property damage," the report said.
"But not everything went as planned, and not all expectations were met," it said.
The presentation to the St. Paul City Council by the commission co-chairs -- former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy Luger -- drew jeers from a couple dozen activists in the audience, who condemned the report as a whitewash and a cover-up. They were especially critical that the report generally didn't deal with allegations of police brutality against protesters.
Heffelfinger said that was not what they were hired to investigate.
The seven-member commission's major concerns included:
--The arrests of several journalists who were covering the protests.
--The use of pepper spray as an "offensive weapon" against certain individual protesters.
--The lack of visible identification on several tactical officers.
--The large-scale arrests on the final night of the convention, when police herded protesters and journalists onto a bridge that was blocked off on the other end.
--The complications arising from having 120 law enforcement agencies assisting St. Paul's own police department.
The report said protocols should have been prepared prior to the convention and discussed with journalists for either excluding journalists from arrest simply for covering disturbances or permitting them to be cited and released quickly, and for deciding who constitutes a journalist.
It listed the arrest of Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke as he covered clashes between police and protesters on the first day of the convention as one of several "matters that we found troubling, and that may warrant further review or investigation."
The report also said the city and police department failed to prepare the community to understand the threat of violence from certain protesters it described as "violent anarchists" and what the police response to that would be. He said the stated plan for a light police presence "raised expectations that could not be met," so many people in the community felt "betrayed" by how events played out.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Heffelfinger and Luger offered no advice for how the city should deal with the matters they said might warrant further review. They said that was up to city officials to decide.
"The thing that leaps off the page probably more than anything for me in my initial review of this report is with respect to the treatment of journalists," Mayor Chris Coleman told the council. For the sake of St. Paul and cities that host similar events in the future, he said, they need to get a better understanding of how to protect reporters' First Amendment rights given the changing nature of journalism and who defines themselves as a journalist.
"We will take this report very seriously, and we will act upon it where appropriate," Coleman said.
Police Chief John Harrington told reporters he hadn't read the report, but that nothing he heard during the presentation by Heffelfinger and Luger "really shocks me." He said only three internal affairs complaints have been filed by the public over police actions during the convention, but that he wouldn't hesitate to file more complaints himself if he finds evidence of policy or procedural violations as he reviews the report and the supporting exhibits.
"I think there are lessons to be learned from what's in the report and we're going to look at this," Harrington said.
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The Republican National Convention was held at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul from Sept. 1 through Sept. 4, 2008.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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