Charges dropped against another 320-something RNC protesters

[MnFats]

www.MPR.org


more than three quarters of those origiinally charged off the hook.


what a fiasco for "the authorities."

[fascisthunter]

1. fiasco... more like deliberately infringing upon constitutional rights

it really is disgusting

[Warpy]

2. Why? They've achieved the desired result

by keeping people with charges hanging over their heads for months in an attempt to chill dissent.

DHS undoubtedly wants us crushed. This is one way they have of doing it.

Those charges were never legal in the first place.

[gratuitous]

3. Yeah . . . fiasco

Because now all those protestors can hit the streets and let the RNC know that they think the RNC is a bunch of thugs and robber barons. Oh wait; no they can't.

I don't know what a sufficient deterrent penalty would be or who it would be levied against in these instances. The Republican National Convention is a time-limited event, and the right of the people to assemble peaceably and voice their concerns is thwarted entirely if a whole bunch of people are carted away from the scene by the local constabulary. It doesn't seem right to financially penalize the municipality employing the cops. After all, the folks who would ultimately be on the hook for the fines would be the local taxpayers, many of whom might have heartily disapproved of the gestapo tactics of the cops.

Maybe the organizers of the event? But can you draw a bright line between the police misconduct and the event organizers? If not, it doesn’t seem fair or right – even if you know deep in your heart that the two groups colluded – to hold the RNC financially responsible for the actions of the cops.

I think whenever this kind of mass arrest in violation of people's constitutional rights occurs, a thorough investigation should be made. Misbehaving cops and their superiors should be penalized in their careers with loss of rank, pay or time in grade. If there's evidence of collusion, then the event organizers should also be on the hook for a set amount for each and every fake arrest. A thousand dollars, split between the arrestee and the municipality?

I don't know what the answer is, but the system as it now operates stinks to high heaven.

[Tesha]

5. The local police who violated those folks' rights almost-certainly report to a local...

police commission and through them, the voters.

Let the local voters (who failed to supervise their cops) pay.
Maybe they'll supervise their cops more-effectively next time.

Tesha

[backscatter712]

4. self-delete.