300 arrested at Occupy protests in Oakland

After clashing with police, demonstrators break into City Hall and burn a U.S. flag. Mayor Quan calls on the movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."

About 300 people were arrested Saturday during a chaotic day of Occupy protests that saw demonstrators break into City Hall and burn an American flag, as police earlier fired tear gas and bean bags to disperse hundreds of people after some threw rocks and bottles and tore down fencing outside a nearby convention center.

Dozens of police officers remained on guard outside City Hall around midnight following the most turbulent day of protests since November, when Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment. An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."

"People in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior," Quan said.

Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, at times throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers. And police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Administrator Deanna Santanta said.

"These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that's exactly what has occurred today," Santana said.

Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said about 300 arrests were made.

The group assembled outside City Hall late Saturday morning and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

The number of demonstrators swelled as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

A majority of the arrests came after police took scores of protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building, said Sgt. Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.

Around the same time police were taking people into custody near the YMCA, dozens of officers surrounded City Hall, while others swept the inside of the building looking for protesters who had broken into the building, then ran out of the building with American flags before officers arrived.

The protest group issued an email criticizing police, saying "Occupy Oakland's building occupation, an act of constitutionally protected civil disobedience was disrupted by a brutal police response today."

Michael Davis, 32, who is originally from Ohio and was in the Occupy movement in Cincinnati, said Saturday was a very hectic day that started off calm but escalated when police began using "flash bangs, tear gas, smoke grenades and bean bags."

"It was very emotional. I thought it was a very good day for the movement because it brought us back together," Davis said. "We all were here in spirit and everybody actually helped everyone today.

"What could've been handled differently is the way the Oakland police came at us," Davis said. "We were peaceful."

Quan blamed the destruction on a small "very radical, violent" splinter group within Occupy Oakland.

"This is not a situation where we had a 1,000 peaceful people and a few violent people. If you look at what's happening today in terms of destructing property, throwing at and charging the police, it's almost like they are begging for attention and hoping that the police will make an error."

Quan said that at one point, many forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.

"City Hall is closed for the weekend. There is no excuse for behavior we've witnessed this evening," City Council President Larry Reid said during a news briefing Saturday. "It's just unacceptable and makes absolutely no sense for the type of behavior we've seen on the streets in the city of Oakland today."

Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente echoed Reid's sentiments and said that what was going on amounts to "domestic terrorism."

"This is domestic terrorism and we cannot allow this to continue because something even more worse could really happen," De La Fuente said.

The demonstration comes after Occupy protesters said last week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub. They also threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

Oakland officials said Friday that since the Occupy Oakland encampment was first established in late October, police have arrested about 300 people.

The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Among the critics was Quan, who said she wasn't briefed on the department's plans.

On Saturday, Quan seemed to have changed her tune on how police have been handling the demonstrations and protests.

"Our officers have been very measured," Quan said. "Were there some mistakes made? There may be. I would say the Oakland police and our allies, so far a small percentage of mistakes. But quite frankly, a majority of protesters who were charging the police were clearly not being peaceful."

Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included "serious concerns" about the department's handling of the Occupy protests.

Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said late Saturday that he was in "close contact" with the federal monitor during the protests.

Quan added, "If the demonstrators think that because we are working more closely with the monitor now that we won't do what we have to do to uphold the law and try keep people safe in this city, they're wrong."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-mew-occupy-oakland-20120130,0,5086659,print.story

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From Google News

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Police Seek Help On Drugged Driving

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The federal government should help police departments nationwide obtain the tools and training needed to attack a rising scourge of driving under the influence, two U.S. senators said Sunday.

Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Mark Pryor of Arkansas proposed that federal funding in a pending transportation funding bill be used for research and to train police. They said police have no equipment and few have training in identifying drugged drivers, who don't show the same outward signs of intoxication as drunken drivers do, such as slurred speech.

"Cops need a Breathalyzer-like technology that works to identify drug-impaired drivers on-the-spot — before they cause irreparable harm," Schumer said. "With the explosive growth of prescription drug abuse it's vital that local law enforcement have the tools and training they need to identify those driving under the influence of narcotics to get them off the road."

Schumer says drugged driving arrests rose 35 percent in New York since 2001, but he says that's a fraction of the cases.

The Democrats cited a 2009 federal report in which 10.5 million Americans acknowledged that they had driven under the influence of drugs. Schumer said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that in a 2007 roadside survey, more than 16 percent of weekend and night-time drivers tested positive for illegal prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs. Eleven percent of them were found to have taken illegal drugs.

The administration also found that a third of 12,055 drivers tested who died in car crashes in 2009 had used drugs.

Yet police have no approved equipment to help identify drugged drivers, though saliva tests are being researched.

Pryor wants to create federal grants so police can participate in programs that require up to 200 hours of instruction to detect drugged driving.

Schumer said the effort is prompted in part by two fatal December crashes in the New York City area in which two boys — one 5 years old and the other, 4 — died. Prescription drug abuse is being investigated in both cases.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=146050566

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South Carolina

York police aim for community presence

Outreach includes neighborhood meetings, regular walking patrols

YORK -- Pounding the pavement and pressing the flesh are among recent efforts by York police to strengthen relationships with city residents -- and, hopefully, reduce crime.

York Police Chief Andy Robinson said he is encouraging each of the department's four shifts to "adopt" an area of town and meet regularly with residents.

The first meeting was with residents in an area from California Street to the S.C. 5 Bypass. "We want to let them know we're not just here to make arrests - we're here for the whole community," Robinson said.

Police Lt. Dale Edwards, whose shift has adopted that part of town, said his shift officers also have had success by walking the area to talk with people.

"It's like anything else," Edwards said. "If you've got a higher police presence in the area, the bad element doesn't want to be around that, so our calls for service have dropped dramatically."

Edwards said he enjoys giving out Silly Bands to the kids when he is in the neighborhood and sometimes even playing ball with them. "It lets the kids realize the police are not the bad guy," he said.

Robinson said he eventually would like to have an officer designated for community policing.

Edwards said his shift started a couple years ago by focusing on the Pecan Circle area, a low-income area with a housing complex. The area had numerous police calls about fighting in the parking lots and loud music, he said.

When shift officers started walking the area more, the calls dropped, Edwards said.

"It's made a big difference down in that area, and there have been other communities that have been like, how about doing something with our area," Edwards said. "My shift can only do so much, so we're trying to get other shifts involved in doing the same thing."

George Wilform, a York Housing Authority board member and a retired New York police officer who lives near that area, said the police presence has had a positive effect.

"Just their presence alone, and talking to the kids and the people who live there, they've done a wonderful job," Wilform said. "Since they have been doing what they've been doing, it's cut down on the activity quite a bit. We don't have as many people hanging out."

Robinson said he wants his shifts to meet with their area at least quarterly. He said they can talk about a neighborhood watch, speeding problems or safety issues.

Robinson said police are also available for educational programs on topics such as women's self-defense, identify theft and crime prevention.

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