Preparations Seem Extreme; Even the Horses are in Riot Gear

by Lee Jolliffe, Drake Journalism teacher
(Photos by Lee Jolliffe)


BEFORE:
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter told us last week about preparations for protestors at the Convention. The students with us immediately figured out that there's a warehouse surrounded by a razor-wire topped fence serving as a makeshift mega-jail here. They also questioned the attempt to keep protestors in a "free-speech zone".

"Many are intent on being arrested," Governor Ritter told us. "They are mostly not people who need to be detained. We just need a facility to 'process' them--fingerprinting and so forth. We'll be issuing municipal tickets, mostly."

Who will be issuing those tickets? The police presence is growing and growing in Denver.

"We're using law enforcement from all over the state and state troopers, too. We have 1700 officers on 12-hour shifts. They're all fully trained--crisis intervention training, if a citizen is wanting to escalate, how to de-escalate."

His greatest concern? A group calling itself "Re-Create '68". Ritter's sense (and mine, I must admit) is that they are coming to Denver "looking for the media image of police brutality, hoping to disrupt."

DURING:
Since Friday, the police presence in Denver has grown radically. I can't get lost, because there's an officer at every corner. On the other hand, these large clumps of police in full riot gear seem ominous in and of themselves.

The 16th Street "mall" is Denver's answer to Crown Center (KC) or Navy Pier (Chicago) or the Harbor (Baltimore); it's a 10-block street that climbs from Union Station and the river here to the top of the downtown area. It's a pedestrian mall with two narrow lanes that free shuttles run on, jammed with stores and cafes and street vendors. Normally a great spot for visitors to roam, now it's jammed with people and cops. Protestors march up and down in clumps at random moments.

Saturday night a colleague went down there. What she described sounded to me like a mardi gras of odd people and everyday people, with fights breaking out for no reason. She said that a clump of the riot police (about 6 to 8 in a group) saw a fight, threw in a teargas cartridge, and then simply left.

Sunday night, another colleague was downtown (Why, I ask myself, are they doing this?). A group of officers began shouting for people to "Get back! Get back!" They yelled about a suspicious package in an alley entrance. My colleague on this: "I think they were just practicing."

About packages: You can't set anything down, of course. And there are no U.S.P.O. mailboxes, lest someone send a very nasty package to passersby. But this whole "green convention" concept has sprouted up recycling bins on every curb. Ahem. Am I the only one who sees the irony?

We're used to candidate arrivals and Presidential visits in Iowa, where candidates roam fairly often, hoping to scare up more caucus votes. But here, when someone of note arrives, anyone downtown knows it by the sirens.

I hope there's never an actual emergency here, because they're crying 'wolf' constantly. First come the motorcyle police, sirens and lights blaring; then there's a chain of SUVs (black, white or silver). In Iowa, we've seen these entourages. What's really different and quite sobering is that here, every SUV traveling in front of and behind the dignitary--and the dignitary's limo--is being ridden on by troopers clinging to the outside of the vehicle. Add the black clothing, helmets, riot gear, and sirens, and...well, it's just not fun, is it?

ALSO DURING:
Driving downtown over the weekend: Denver likely has more scooters and motorcycles than the rest of the USA combined. There are bicycle taxicabs here! So when driving, you're always alert for the single headlights. But this weekend, I drove downtown to pick up some colleagues and got my first glimpse of the bicycle police. Now, these police are charming. Fellows in shorts, riding in fairly large groups, their halogen headlamps flickering like lightning bugs with superpowers...Much more friendly!