Policing Occupy Wall Street

With the Occupy Wall Street movement spreading to Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle and many other cities (even countries like Ireland), it's time for the police to come to grips with the legitimacy of this protest and to develop less confrontational and aggressive tactics for controlling law abiding citizens who wish to express their legitimate grievances.

There are good reasons to cooperate from both the police and the protestors perspectives.

If the goals of the protestors are merely to disrupt and agitate, pushing the police and getting arrested is all that's needed. Strategically, it's worked thus far, helping to attract the media and set off a wave of copy cat protests around the country. But to be taken seriously as a political force, a la the Tea Party for example, OWS will have to shed its troublemaker image in favor of a more balanced approach that will enable them to leverage their position for the coming elections.

And the police, well if they aren't careful they're going to lose the PR war and come off looking like brutes beating up good Americans. By responding with force to political protest, they are helping to make the protestor's case and hurting their own cause, looking like patsies of the powers that be rather than defenders of the people's rights.

During the '60s when mass marches were taking place all around the country, the police would routinely consult with group leaders to establish ground rules for the protests. With people being human and cops being cops, the rules weren't always strictly followed but it helped, especially in enlightened cities like New York. It would also help if our patrician leader Mayor Bloomberg would get off his high horse as fellow Republican Mayor Lindsay once did walking into Harlem and Bed-Stuy at the height of racial turmoil, mingling with the people and asking for calm. His unsympathetic comments thus far show just how much he identifies with the ruling class.

Anyone who has followed the news out of the Middle East over the last six months knows that strong-arm tactics only serves to bring out more protestors outraged by the government's response to their demands. Judging by my Facebook news feed, this is exactly what appears to be happening.

There are early signs that the democrats are seeing the potential for aligning with the OWS movement. To his credit, President Obama has sympathized with the protestors right to speak out and meet en masse. If he has not quite felt their pain, he has at least seen the poll numbers.

Above: Photographs from Atisha Paulson taken at Occupy Wall Street this week.