Police said they used the device last Thursday to issue prerecorded warnings to disperse when hundreds of demonstrators, including self-described anarchists, without a protest permit held a march that threatened to turn violent.I hate "self-described anarchists" (or, rather, I despise them) as much as the next guy. But this is not right. This should not be happening in the streets of American cities against American citizens.
Look at how easy it is for police to perceive that a situation "threatened to turn violent".
They've accused grannies at Tea Parties of "threatening to turn violent".
This is really bad. In a just world, he chief of police would lose his job, his citizenship and be deported to ChavezLand, where I'm sure he'd be more than welcome.
The British learned a lot about the conequences of using painful non-lethals on crowds in Northern Ireland.
What they learned was that dispersed crowds don’t all go home and sip tea and knit sweaters. Some of them dig up rifles and build bombs, and they start using them.
Something to consider, for those LE officials who think that “non lethal” crowd dispersal is a win-win with no downside.
Police state 101.