Oakland PD accuses mayor of playing both sides.

[Courtesy Flush]

Open letter from the Oakland Police Dept.:

"On Tuesday, October 25th, we were ordered by Mayor Quan to clear out the encampments at Frank Ogawa Plaza and to keep protesters out of the Plaza. We performed the job that the Mayor’s Administration asked us to do, being fully aware that past protests in Oakland have resulted in rioting, violence and destruction of property.

Then, on Wednesday, October 26th, the Mayor allowed protesters back in – to camp out at the very place they were evacuated from the day before.

To add to the confusion, the Administration issued a memo on Friday, October 28th to all City workers in support of the “Stop Work” strike scheduled for Wednesday, giving all employees, except for police officers, permission to take the day off.

That’s hundreds of City workers encouraged to take off work to participate in the protest against “the establishment.” But aren’t the Mayor and her Administration part of the establishment they are paying City employees to protest? Is it the City’s intention to have City employees on both sides of a skirmish line?"

http://www.opoa.org/uncategorized/an-open-letter-to-the-citizens-of-oakland-from-the-oakland-police-officers%E2%80%99-association/

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. OM NOM NOM NOM

[snooper2]

2. Mayor Quan has one thing on her mind

and that's re-election

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. William Shatner's Thought For The Day:

[Ed Suspicious]

8. :thumbs pointed in an upwardly direction: n/t

[Goldstein1984]

4. First of all, it reads like the Oakland PD...

or the person who is speaking for them, have take a personal stake on the side of the establishment.

Second, they weren't protecting the people of Oakland when they cleared the camp, they were assaulting them.

The Mayor just senses the way the wind is blowing, and the OPD have yet to do that.

[atreides1]

5. That old excuse

"We we're just following orders"...works everytime, or not!

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. Exactly. An astute DUer said recently that the 99%ers who currently take the 1%s orders

are one whiff of an abandonment away from marching with us.

This isn't taking long, is it?

[dtexdem]

6. Hey, police, don't worry: she's not doing it effectively.

;-)

[EFerrari]

9. Both sides of a skirmish line? The OPD is at war with the people of Oakland?

Looks like it.

[SoDesuKa]

10. Skirmish Line

The term skirmish line refers to a standard police formation used in crowd situations. The words unfortunately suggest a state of ongoing hostilities, which may not actually exist. However, the writer did use the term in a more figurative sense of taking sides.

The police are there to protect life and property, not defend some putative "American way of life." They're learning this more slowly than usual because they're reluctant to give up their status as post-9/11 heroes. They will go through a period when they are perceived as schmucks, as indeed the New York cops are today. After the 1960's, the last time NYPD took the kind of public relations hammering they're taking today, they started wearing baseball caps to emphasize being jes' folks like the rest of us. Since then, they've gone back to being military and intimidating.



Skirmish line of Civil War re-enactors (Michigan)

[EFerrari]

11. The word derives from ME, to brandish a weapon,

and describes military engagement. It is not a termed limited to police work.

NOUN:

1. A minor battle in war, as one between small forces or between large forces avoiding direct conflict.
2. A minor or preliminary conflict or dispute: a skirmish over the rules before the debate began.

intr.v.
skir·mished, skir·mish·ing, skir·mish·es

To engage in a minor battle or dispute.

ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English skirmisshe, alteration (influenced by Middle English skirmisshen, to brandish a weapon), of skarmush from Old French eskarmouch, from Old Italian scaramuccia, of Germanic origin; see sker-1 in Indo-European roots

OTHER FORMS:
skirmish·er(Noun)