Posted on 05/05/2008 1:21:25 PM PDT by mdittmar
The Denver Sheriff Department is preparing to handle up to 3,000 arrests during the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the director of corrections said Thursday.
Bill Lovingier, who is also the undersheriff in charge of the jails, spoke about a wide range of preparations for handling the possibility of mass arrests after criticisms by the Colorado American Civil Liberties Union were reported in The Denver Post.
Lovingier said that in order to create holding space, an unspecified number of county jail inmates will be moved to jails in neighboring jurisdictions and city jail inmates will be transferred to the county jail.
Several strategies will be in place, Lovingier said, to speed the processing time for protesters arrested for minor offenses.
"We anticipate most of the people will bond out quickly," Lovingier said. "We don't anticipate holding for any large period of time."
In addition, the county courts are clearing their normal schedule for convention week and are setting up an additional courtroom to handle arraignments for those who can't bond out, according to Andrew Armatas, the presiding judge.
The ACLU's Mark Silverstein said this week that he is concerned that the Denver Police Department's departure from simply issuing citations to protesters who commit misdemeanor offenses to full arrests means that Denver "could be headed for a very disastrous and catastrophic situation."
Silverstein last month filed a claim against the city for monetary damages because of its handling of 83 protesters arrested at the Columbus Day parade in October. At least 40 of them were held for hours at the jail before being allowed to post bond and were held hours longer before being released.
Lovingier said the delays were a result of the extra strain so many arrests placed on the system.
"The system is designed for five to seven people an hour," he said. "Now you've got 80 people all at once. I say that the decision to arrest and not summons was significant."
Now, the Sheriff Department is preparing to set up six to eight satellite booking centers outside the three available at the city jail, Lovingier said.
Also, police during the convention will be able to electronically send citations to jailers at the time of arrests. Currently, jailers don't get officers' paperwork until they come in from the field.
Denver police are adding staff to speed the checks for outstanding warrants among those who are arrested.
Silverstein said Thursday that he remained skeptical.
"It's very good that the city is recognizing that the current system could not handle mass arrests," he said, adding that he still thinks "for minor violations, . . . police should issue a summons rather than a full custodial arrest."
Issuing citations avoids several risks, Silverstein said. Full arrests allow for too many unforeseen factors — such as hot days, long waits on paddy wagons and complications in accessing medication — that could conspire to create lengthy and even dangerous delays, he said.
Better make it space for 30,000.
After reading this, for some reason I thought of that line from the movie “JAWS”: “I think we need a bigger boat.”
Yeah, but it would look like the Superdome after Katrina when all was done.
Announcement on day 3 of the convention seeking an out of town consultant:
“Paging Sheriff Arpaio; please pick up the red emergency phone...”
I think it is a matter of exactly which part of Denver you want to look like the aftermath of Katrina.
I guess it would be contained. I wonder if they have really big floor drains in the stadium? They could just flush it to Texas I guess. Hardly fair.
Yeah, like removing riot instigators, full blown anarchists and asinine trouble makers from what is still a law abiding CITY. How horrible!!!
Maybe if you told them they would not bond out quickly they may not be in such a hurry to get arrested.
If they knew their bond was going to be say $5,000 and that happens to be what their fine is, or say a year in jail, they may find something else to do.
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