The Port of Oakland in the light of Miami

Oakland Police Chief Richard Word has a nice-guy image which comes across well in a December 11th Oakland Tribune article (which is at the bottom of this page). Nevertheless it was his cops who fired on peaceful demonstrators and longshoremen at the docks on April 7; Chief Word then accused protesters of having thrown rocks at the police. Perhaps the chief was badly informed that day. However, three weeks later, at the city council hearing of April 29, he repeated that same accusation which was by then known to be false.

He has never retracted that false statement or apologized for making it. Moreover, bogus charges are still being pressed against 25 people who were wrongfully arrested on April 7 by his police. If Chief Word were an honorable person, it seems to me that he’d refuse to have any further part of the cover-up, own up to his part in the matter and apologize. It’s my opinion that he is avoiding responsibility and attempting to relocate the blame. To hear it from him, the shooting was the unintended result of a misunderstanding, some sort of an accident that happened in an atmosphere of distrust and anxiety where there was a lack of communication.

I don’t see it as a lack of communication, I think it was a lack of responsibility on the part of Chief Word who appears to have abdicated his command that morning of April 7. He was not at the scene to be in personal command of his officers. It appears that actual control of the 165 police in the port that morning was in the hands of private shipping company officials who had met with police three days earlier to plan their strategy.

Similar police violence occurred on a much larger scale in Miami, during the FTAA conference in November, and it certainly looks as though the Port of Oakland was laboratory for such repression -- a step on the road to Miami. However, repression failed in both Oakland and Miami. In Oakland the protesters were back at the Port 5 weeks later, on May 12, and that time no violence occurred and the demonstration was successful. It was a classic Sun Tzu victory where the enemy was defeated without battle, and the result was a triumph for First Amendment rights.

In Miami the police won a set piece battle, but when the smoke had cleared, hope for the FTAA project which they were guarding was in ruins. Prior to that, Miami Police Chief John Timoney had been named “the best cop in the country” by Esquire magazine. Since November the Miami Herald has also said a lot about Chief Timoney, but it’s not calling him “the best cop in the country.”

So it may be that Oakland Police Chief Richard Word was thinking of events in Florida as well as here in California when he said, “We have learned many lessons in light of the April 7th anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland.”

Is he trying to avoid the bad-guy image that was acquired by his counterpart in Miami?


Here’s the Oakland Tribune article of December 11, 2003:


Cops soften tactics on protesters
Oakland police chief says wooden pellets are out for crowd control but bean bags may be used as a last resort
By Heather MacDonald
STAFF WRITER, Oakland Tribune
Thursday, December 11, 2003 - OAKLAND -- Police Chief Richard Word said Wednesday officers no longer will fire wooden pellets at demonstrators or use motorcycles to control crowds after an internal review showed that police actions at a peaceful anti-war protest in April injured at least two dozen people, creating a nationwide uproar.
Word said he plans to formally announce the changes to the Oakland Police Department's crowd control policy at the Citizen's Police Review Board hearing 6:15 p.m. today at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.
"We have learned many lessons in light of the April 7th anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland," Word said. "It was a pretty bad scene."
Numerous people were injured in the protest, organized to highlight the role American President Line played in shipping arms and other materials to the Middle East to be used in the war.
Changes to the policy also include a restriction on the use of bean bag rounds and establishment of police protest liaisons who will meet with demonstrators and group leaders in advance. In addition, officers will be required to wear numbered helmets so they can be easily identified by commanders.
All officers will be retrained in crowd-control tactics and the new policy, which will include a four-step process, the chief said.
During the protest, police will issue clear demands to demonstrators and group leaders to disperse or face the consequences, Word said.
Those who refuse to follow orders will be arrested. If the demonstration remains out of control, police wielding batons and pepper spray will then establish a skirmish line and attempt to push the crowd back. As a last resort, police will fire bean bag rounds and stinger grenades, which contain rubber pellets and gas.
"Every crowd is different, so we'll try to be flexible," Word said. "You hope to never have to resort to force."
Twenty-four activists and one longshore worker have been charged with creating a public nuisance, interfering with a business and failing to disperse. Charges of disturbing the peace were dismissed last month.
One of those injured that day was Willow Rosenthal, founder of City Slicker Farms in West Oakland. She was hit in the back of the right calf as police opened fire, and later had to endure surgeries to relieve internal bleeding and skin grafts. Although she has a permanent scar, she considers herself lucky to be able to walk.
"I do think it would be very good if they discontinued use of, quote/unquote, "less lethal" weapons that turned out to be pretty lethal," she said. "But it's really an issue of leadership ... because no matter what they are armed with, if the leadership isn't there to make sure people's rights are respected, nothing will change. So while it's good that they may not use (the weaponry), we want to see something that deals with the systemic problems in the department."
Word said he would look for both Mayor Jerry Brown and the Oakland City Council to weigh in on the changes before completing the crowd control policy.
The changes should not be viewed as an admission that police overreacted or deliberately attacked demonstrators and longshore workers caught in the melee, Word said.
"It's just smart for any police agency to review what happened in a major incident and make appropriate changes," Word said.
An independent review panel, charged with finding out what caused the altercation, disbanded several months ago and was not replaced because of time constraints and the threat of litigation.
Nearly two dozen demonstrators, dock workers and a labor union sued Oakland and its police department in June, claiming their civil rights were violated. They alleged police resorted to excessive force to control the protest.
The police chief has repeatedly defended the actions of his officers, saying the order to open fire with wooden pellets, bean bag rounds and stinger grenades was given after demonstrators blocked truck traffic at the APL terminal and threw bottles and rocks at officers. However, a video of the confrontation released by the city does not show demonstrators attacking police.
The California Anti-Terrorism Information Center warned Oakland police to be prepared for violence at the port demonstration, leading many to speculate the officers arrived with a hair-trigger mentality.
Many protesters were hit in the back as they retreated from lines of riot gear-clad police on motorcycles and on foot. One woman was hit in the jaw. A port worker outside the gates was hit in the hand. His thumb was broken and required surgery.
Word said the review panel, which included department leaders and members of the police review board, considered eliminating bean bag rounds -- also called flexible batons -- from the officers' arsenal. But ultimately it was decided to keep the "less lethal" form of ammunition.
"The bean bag is a good tool to keep distance between somebody who is menacing and an officer, and a good way to incapacitate someone," Word said. "The key is shot placement."
Wooden pellets, or dowels, were eliminated because they are simply not effective, Word said.
The key to avoid a repeat of what happened at the port in April is to establish a relationship with the groups and organizations planning demonstrations and open lines of communication before the day of the protest.
Because that was not the case April 7, an atmosphere of distrust, anxiety and confrontation was allowed to flourish, Word said.
"That was the main thing that went wrong, and why it got so out of control."
Staff writer Cecily Burt contributed to this report.