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Show UP AGAINST THEWLL Campus cops: shock troops remaining there with malicious or mischievous intent. Passes Emergency Laws New York City has passed several emergency measures to curb "riots and other disorders." The mayor is now permitted to impose curfews and close off "distrubed" areas whenever he has "reason to believe that there exists a clear and present danger of a riot or other public disorder." The New York Civil Liberties Union protested the law does not require a clear and present danger actually exist, "it merely requires the mayor to believe it exists. He doesn't have to be right, he only has to be sincere." Philadelphia passed a proclamation last summer prohibiting "all persons. . .from gathering on the public streets or sidewalks in groups of 12 or more. . .except for recreational purposes in parks or other recreational areas." Inciting Riot Illegal Last spring Congress made it a Federal crime to travel from one state to another or to use a radio, television or other interstate facilities with an intent to incite a riot. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. This law defines a riot as a "public disturbance involving three or more persons endangering either property or persons." The University now has on campus a student who was busted four times in Berkeley for "conspiracy." Apparently the Berkeley Department of Security defines a conspiracy as a large number of people talking against the government. A "large numta C of people" to them is five pe0n I at a four-person table. t student is carrying a scar from campus policeman $ "overreacted." J Guilty Before Innocent fl jlli The country-wide attitude 0 ',( clamp-down has "guilty-befote innocent" overtones. These new & laws are vague enough to allow, 1,11 dutiful policeman to righteously bust up a peace demonstrate l,c precensor a controversial speaker or jail a group of friends hassling (l" U.S. foreign policy views over & coffee. 0 Hopefully, the increased ' training and enlistment of the Department of Security is not to control or clamp-down on students. The timing for the $ better-equipped campus state " troopers, however, is too coincidental with national 10 paranoia to be simply sluffed off, A gross error seems to have been made to add this toughness at i ! time when student activists are j more willing to listen and relate to ,je University administrators. For a while, too, it appeared that L administrators were more willing to listen and talk back. An Uncontrollable Force? bil11 ft; B.' Could it be that the new forte fS has become uncontrollable by the ( University administration? It happened in Chicago, Columbia and Berkeley. The campus ought not tobei y ghetto students can't get out of, 4 or a place where occupatioi troops have a free reign. Pofe states do exist, will the University i be the next one? . By Jeannette Brown "White America didn't believe police brutality existed until their white middle-class youth were brutalized in Chicago." Dr. Charles Nabors, professor of anatomy and the first black delegate from Utah to the Democratic National Convention, was right when he made that observation. Chicago, Columbia, Berkeley and maybe the University focus too sharply on the possibility of living in a police state. Right now, the campus Department of Security looks dangerously close to occupation troops, rather than peace officers. This may not be Director Elroy Jones's intent, but when he proudly boasts his department is "better equipped and trained" than any other in the state except the downtown police, then students are justified in becoming apprehensive. Mr. Jones also thinks his department is vastly understaffed and admits "it is possible that our officers may have overreacted" in specific harrassment incidents. No Competitor While Mr. Jones is doing an excellent job defining and providing for the needs of his police troops, it seems apparent that these needs are totally irrelevant to the needs of the University community. The campus Department of Security jhould be another coordinated organization within the University, not in competition with other law enforcement agencies in the state. The Department of Security ought to be concerned about cutting down on their numbers and providing adequate security with a minimum of weapons. In the past few months, many apologies and excuses have been offered nationally to brush aside police "overreaction." Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago and former Columbia University President Grayson Kirk compassionately asked for public sympathy after brutal "overreactions" in their occupied areas. It seems when a citizen or "civilian" overreacts and throws rocks at an advancing police squad, he is beaten, tossed in jail and arrested for resisting arrest or failure to disperse. Law and order overreactions are being dismissed as "human failings" when it is precisely those professionally trained individuals who should be able to act, not overreact. The police overreactors are not thrown in jail or even reprimanded, instead they are praised for controlling their tempers "above and beyond the call of duty." If the best-trained policemen can "overreact" with impunity, then perhaps they are not trained enough as peace officers rather than shock troops. Troops Turned Loose The fear of existing police states has alarmed student activists since the Battle of Chicago and the Siege of Columbia. That fear is turning into stark knowledge since several cities passed all-inclusive laws last year literally letting the well-trained, but often overreacting, troops loose on the citizens they are sworn to protect. One law in Chicago, for example, stipulates anyone continuing an activity deemed likely to lead to a breach of the peace after police have ordered him to stop, can be charged with disorderly conduct. Another one states that police can arrest anyone knowingly entering property open to the public and V. |
