Researchers: Police likely provoke protestors — not the other way around

[Scuba]

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/22/researchers_police_likely_provoke_protestors_%E2%80%94_not_the_other_way_around/

New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that police are often the provocateurs of violence during demonstrations. The Deciding Force project, who has been studying clashes between law enforcement and protestors in 192 cities during Occupy demonstrations in 2011, said that attacks by police against protesters in Ferguson, Mo., are part of a disturbing trend of law enforcement playing the role of agitator.

“Everything starts to turn bad when you see a police officer come out of an SUV and he’s carrying an AR-15,” said Nick Adams, a sociologist and fellow at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Data Science who has been heading the research at the Deciding Force Project. “It just upsets the crowd.”

...

“We’re finding police have a lot of capacity to set a tone,” Adams said during a recent radio interview with Sacramento’s KFBK. “When police show up in riot gear you get a different kind of interaction than when they show up in their regular uniforms.”

In Ferguson, police in full tactical gear have shot tear gas at protestors, pelted them with rubber bullets, and utilized smoke bombs to clear crowds. Numerous arrests have been made, including more than a dozen journalists covering the demonstrations.

[procon]

1. Just look at 'em!

Such macho men. All decked out in their spiffy armor and armed to max, acting all big and bad and ready to maim and kill the enemy forces on a whim. Why, they are the spitting image of medieval knights of old, or the Stormtroopers from Star Wars, aren't they?

Now, if only they didn't see the communities they "serve" and the people who live there as enemy combatants.

[Man from Pickens]

3. The outfit shows the intention

and the intention is to suppress dissent, not to enforce laws. There's no genuine law enforcement role that requires such an outfit.

[adirondacker]

7. I thought they were just overzealous fans of these guys....

?width=640&height=550

pretty disturbing either way.

[Rex]

2. Why the fuck are cops even allowed to dress like that? They look idiotic.

Do I actually see camelbak hoses? Why not just have them take the oath and enlist them into the military already?

[frylock]

4. one needs to stay hydrated when they're protecting and serving the ever loving shit out of citizens

[Historic NY]

5. Yes, they are there to intimidate...

unfortunately they should be there to stop escalation not cause it.

[jillan]

6. Look at the little guy in front - he looks like he has a boner. Ooooh - dressing up like a killer

is too exciting for him.