The Violent Saga Rages On: Police Brutality in Olympia and Beyond, How to Fight Back

author : Wally Cuddeford topic : police misconduct

by Wally Cuddeford

In the early morning hours of July 27, known anti-war organizer Jeff Berryhill was downtown, minding his own business, when he was encircled by Olympia police. The cops, who demonstrated knowledge of who Berryhill was, detained him for several minutes, claiming he “fit the profile” of a suspect in a burglary incident elsewhere in town. (Indeed, it has not been established that this “burglary” even happened.) Upon being dismissed, Berryhill went straight home to tell his friend Mitch. Reportedly, officers later converged on the two at their home, escalating with the victims and eventually assaulting and arresting them. (1)

This incident sparked outrage among local activists and friends of Berryhill. Anti-police sidewalk rallies began, vocalizing this outrage and putting it in the context of regular police brutality against members of the community. This expression of outrage was met with further escalation. Hours after the first rally, police converged on and arrested another local activist organizer, who has asked to remain anonymous, in such a way as to indicate he may have also been singled out for his activism.

This tide of increased brutality is both sickening and alarming, but before we can even begin to plan our responses and discuss strategies, we must clearly identify the problem, its nuances, and its contexts.

Politics as usual

These recent incidents come after a year-long surge of police brutality and repression at local protests around Western Washington. Most notorious among these incidents were the Port of Tacoma protests in March, where police made liberal use of armaments of repression. Police fired a foam impact round at Berryhill from point blank range, used a TASER on myself while I was completely subdued, and fired tear gas canisters at people as artillery (while also directly brutalizing and mass-arresting random demonstrators). (2) These incidents echoed similar brutalities at last year’s Port of Olympia protests, in which crowds were doused in pepper spray, struck with police batons, and mass arrested regardless of participation. (3) (4)

Increased brutality has coincided with increased harassment and suppression at those same demonstrations. Rallies outside Fort Lewis, including last year’s Camp Suzanne and regular Ehren Watada rallies, have routinely been the victim of free speech suppression by the State Patrol. (5) At the Ports of Tacoma and Grays Harbor, police illegally used cameras as threats, as if to intimidate demonstrators into not participating. (6) (7) (8) At Grays Harbor, police followed known activists all over town, harassing possible protest participants at every opportunity. (8) Even outside of town, activist Phil Chinn was pulled over on the freeway heading into Aberdeen and accused of DUI. (Tests later showed he was clean of drugs or alcohol.) (9) And more recently, 85 year old Ruth Lipow was threatened with arrest for nothing more than flyering about health care in a public venue at the Olympia Center. (10)

With increased suppression at demonstrations, attacks emerge on our community institutions. Last October, police converged on the monthly critical mass bike ride in Olympia, arresting two participants and assailing several. (11) In February, police surrounded Olympia’s tent city Camp Quixote, home to several people, and ordered its disassembly and removal from publicly owned ground. (12) And in May, community radio station Free Radio Olympia was forced to suspend operation in response to threats of retaliation from federal agents. (13)

Police frequently escalate tense situations, despite their tenuous public image as “peacekeepers”. This appears to be the case in the assaults of Jeff and Mitch. (1) On March 18, at a Seattle anti-war rally, police tackled, brutalized and dragged off demonstrator Mike Ladd because he splashed water at a counter-protester. (14) In June, Olympia organizer Brendan Dunn was attacked by cops at a rally outside a weapons convention in Tacoma for using a megaphone without a license. (15) And on August 18, at Seattle anti-immigration rally, police responded to counter-demonstrators who threw water balloons by indiscriminately pepper spraying everyone in the vicinity, including themselves. (16) (17) It is unclear whether these overreactions are the result of a desire to escalate confrontation with activists or just ineptitude in “peacekeeping,” but one can find an answer if these actions are put in the proper context.

While some incidents are (ostensibly) overreactions on the part of police to minor incidents, other police assaults don’t even have flimsy pretexts, and justifications must be invented out of whole cloth. A few years ago, long-time and tireless Olympia activist Long Hair Dave was attacked by three Washington State Troopers as he sat in Sylvester Park. Police later claimed Dave’s burning sage, used for a religious observance, constituted a flaming weapon. (18) At a Seattle rally last year, a cop picked a fight with three Olympia flag-wielding anarchists (the “Flag 3”), using the opportunity to brutalize them. The police suggested their flag would likely have been used as a signal to instigate violence. (19) The three activists, who did not fight back, were charged with assault. (9) Berryhill, Caitlin Esworthy, and myself were assaulted on the second night of the Port of Tacoma protests. Police later accused us of having thrown gravel at them, using that as their pretext for assaulting us. (2)

Sometimes, the excessive brutality is so nakedly obvious that the police don’t even bother inventing excuses (or at least excuses that could in any way be taken seriously). Police in Tacoma were caught on video firing tear gas canisters into crowds of people sitting and singing “Give Peace a Chance.” (20) (21) (22) And of course, everyone remembers WTO Seattle, where police fired all kinds of “less than lethal” (or rather, less likely to be lethal) weapons at demonstrators all over town. Just like at the Port of Tacoma, searing hot tear gas canisters were used as artillery to hit people. (23) This was supposedly done in pre-response to some kids smashing windows in one part of town hours after the tear gas started flying.

An indication of how systemic the problem of police brutality and repression against activists is can be seen in how the courts deal with the ensuing legal cases. Indeed, sometimes cases are dismissed, as thankfully happened in the case of Jeff and Mitch, but that is not always the case. 16 defendants from the Port of Olympia protest were put through a 13 month long court process to eventual mistrial and dismissal. (24) The Flag 3 case was drawn out for months to eventual dismissal. (9) And more recently, dismissals and civil suits in the Port of Tacoma court cases have been immediately followed up by renewed charges and accusations. (25) Some would call this retaliation.

The political nature of these brutalities can be seen throughout these examples. The Fort Lewis anti-war rallies have been met with police repression, while pro-war demonstrators have reportedly had free reign with permanent fixtures on the freeway overpass. (5) (26) The Port of Olympia court case represented a high expense attempt to pin so much as a misdemeanor on these activists, ostensibly for such technicalities as being on this or that side of an imaginary line, but in truth for opposing empire. (24) And while police frequently watch over our rallies to keep us in line, last year, 10 members of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, were protected and escorted by a phalanx of Washington State Patrol officers as they came to our community to spread messages of racial bigotry. (27) These are the political actions of a political police force, whose goal is to enforce the social status quo.

But the assaults on Jeff, Mitch, and anonymous represent a new front (or rather, the revival of an old front) in political police repression: the targeting of known organizers away from demonstrations or political venues - the targeting of activists in their personal lives. Given the history of government repression of legitimate activist aspirations in this country, the seriousness of this new front in the Olympia community cannot be understated.

Allies we didn’t know we had

All of this must be put in an even broader context of police violence and coercion inflicted on the community in general. Police, armed with legislation giving them broad discretionary powers to make up their own minds about who’s guilty or not of this or of that, continue to target people of all disenfranchised stripes in society. Racial profiling shows no signs of abetting (although the particular races being most heavily targeted seem to vary from year to year). Recent ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) raids in Shelton have resulted in several destroyed lives and broken families. (28) (29) And in Olympia, last November’s “sidewalk ordinance” has given downtown police all the legal right (as if they didn’t already have the right by force) they need to tell anyone they want to “move along.” (30) (31)

But in truth, one does not need to be in such a disenfranchised position to feel the sting of police power. Counter-culture youth are persecuted and wrung through the legal system for such innocuous non-crimes as smoking pot in private places. Suburban roads are dotted with speed traps of one kind or another designed to catch unlucky and unknowing drivers going over the speed limit even if they actively try to obey the law. If anyone doubts the awesome power wielded by cops, one need only look at how people can actually be arrested and charged with nothing other than “resisting arrest.” (It does happen.) What you end up with is a state where even the privileged middle class come to fear that they might find themselves convicted of a crime by sheer accident.

Even public discourse (and therefore, public thought) is hampered by the threat of police retaliation. Many people rely on the police for services such as protection from violent exes, and are in a position where speaking out against police brutality (which they may oppose) would leave them vulnerable. Officers who challenge corrupt practices, like former Olympia police officer Ron Nesbitt, are fired and retaliated against for daring to challenge police power. Others are actively punished for speaking out against brutality. In March, I was arrested and mishandled by Tacoma police for denouncing police brutality in a public speech venue, and am facing a criminal trial in January for my refusal to back down. (2)

All of this adds up to a paralyzing effect on public consciousness. People begin following unjust orders given by police, just because it was an officer who gave the order. People submit to illegal searches of their person when given illegal orders to do so. (Since such orders are illegal, they’re usually phrased as “Are you going to empty your pockets, or do I have to do it for you?”) People begin doing silly things like driving faster at night (so not to get pulled over and inspected for possibility of DUI), and showing identification when they don’t have to. Police start saying such outrageous things as “Obviously, if he would have just yielded to the trooper, none of this (officer-inflicted manslaughter) would have happened,” without being challenged. (32) Worst of all, people who consider themselves well intentioned and defenders of others, actual good people, begin to turn their backs on the brutality inflicted on others.

While failing to submit can be a dangerous prospect for the individual, not standing up to police domination can be far more dangerous for our communities and for society. On November 7, 2002, Olympia police killed Stephen Edwards with a TASER in the parking lot of Bayview Thriftway because, as police claim, he might have stolen something. (33) And more recently, a Washington State Patrol officer killed another driver along US Highway 101 in a shootout stemming from possible road rage on the part of the officer. (32)

And of course, there will always be David Brame. David Brame was the Tacoma Chief of Police in 2003, at which time he was using his position to stalk and harass his recently separated wife, Crystal. Brame used government resources to conduct the harassment, had people in the department join him in the harassment, and used his title and authority to protect himself from accountability or disclosure. The problem was well known to the City of Tacoma as it was happening, and yet they did nothing. This story took a tragic end on April 26, 2003, when David Brame confronted Crystal in a grocery store parking lot, murdering her and killing himself. Their 10 year old son had to climb over his dying father to get his dead mom’s cell phone out of her pocket to call those same police who had ensured this utterly preventable crime, in fact, would happen. (34)

The issue of police violence is not an activist issue, but a societal issue. It affects all of us, whether we call police to resolve our inter-personal grievances or not. Furthermore, the violence in police is systemic, and it will continue regardless of our choice to confront it or acquiesce to it. It may take different forms and choose different targets depending on how we react to it, but as long as police are allowed to roam the streets with guns and TASERs, with laws and badges, and with impunity, it will be there.

A struggle for justice

On the surface, challenging police abuse may seem like a diversion. Even the most vicious incidents of police brutality, harassment, and outright homocide pale in comparison to the genocide, enslavement, and societal subjugation the U.S. Empire inflicts upon the world. Challenging police brutality in our communities may seem like shallow self-interest when compared to such horrific acts.

But we must remember who it is that defends these overseas crimes domestically. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (though occasionally ignored) forbids the use of the military in domestic policing, and these war shipments and policies of genocide don’t defend themselves. From the docks of Tacoma to the gates of Indian Island, from the halls of the State Capitol to the streets of Seattle, these policies of global genocide, of economic empire, and of domestic counter-insurgency, are defended by militarized police, start to finish. (Indeed, recently released police reports from the Port of Tacoma protests include pro-war rhetoric, indicating that some cops who defend these policies do so knowingly and proudly.) (35) Challenging empire means challenging the cops, and challenging the cops is challenging empire.

But when brutality happens to one of our own (a fellow activist or organizer), it is crucial that we activists act decisively to make sure justice is found. Challenging empire requires a strong, cohesive activist community. Police will single out organizers as a strategy to dissolving movements, and their success at these attempts will depend almost exclusively on whether we unite in solidarity against the cops, or whether we allow ourselves to be divided. Just as we would link arms at the protest to keep the cops from carrying our allies away, we must as a community link arms to protect each other.

In order to even begin to effectively challenge police brutality, one must approach the issue with a clear vision, and a clear alliance with the brutalized. To approach the issue as an arbitrator is to ignore the clearly disproportionate power dynamic in the relationship between cop and victim. Cops have lethal weapons, while most victims do not. Cops have backup, while most victims do not. Cops have institutional resources to defend themselves from allegations, while most victims do not. To attempt to challenge brutality while ignoring these disparities is to give the police every advantage over their victims, and thus is to waste one’s time.

In a system of such overwhelming disproportion of power and influence, and in a system that uses our work and tax dollars to perpetuate itself, truly you can only be on the side of the victims or on the side of the police. There is no neutrality on this moving train. Loving the victims means opposing the victimization, actively and with results.

Our strategies must also reflect that the longer it takes us to end police brutality, the more people will be brutalized, and that the victims of these brutalities will likely be people other than ourselves. To advocate more passive reforms (except such advocacy on the part of those brutalized) is to do so at the risk of others. Hence, any advocacy of any sort of passive reform should be backed up with a clear vision of how such reforms will, step by step, lead to an end to police violence.

I do not advocate a stance of passive reform. But I do know of steps that can be taken to fight back against the tide of brutality.

Getting organized

A key front in combating police brutality is reclaiming space of discourse. As said earlier, the inability of people to speak out leads to more unwitting acquiescence, which leads to more fear of speaking out, and so on. That cycle must be broken in the “opening volley.” Police brutality cannot be challenged in practical terms until it can safely be challenged in rhetoric.

In Olympia, this “opening volley” has come in the form of weekly anti-cop rallies, every Tuesday along the 4th Avenue Bridge. Signs ranging from the broad (“Abusive, coercive institution”) to the specific (“End racial profiling”) to the intellectual (“Cops = criminal racket”) to the engaging (“Honk if you hate the cops”) to the inflammatory (“All cops are murderers”) to the humorous (“Hey cops! Stop assaulting people!”) to the militant (“Fight back”) express the broad range of anti-police sentiment, a sentiment shared with many non-activist members of our community. So far, response at the rallies has been overwhelmingly positive, inspiring organizers to establish it as a weekly event.

First and foremost, these events were organized with the goal of forcing a turn in public discourse. With a few people taking the first stand, it becomes easier for people to openly criticize the cops.

Secondly, it was understood that a cohesive anti-cop movement would put the cops themselves on the defensive. Now, if police single out and assault another activist, or use lethal force against another shoplifter, or kill another speeding driver in cold blood, they do so in the context of weekly anti-cop rallies, instead of in the usually cop-neutral context (which might just make them think twice about using violence as a first resort). Plus, any agency that has to spend time and resources defending itself and it’s image won’t have as much time and resources with which to brutalize people, nor will its agents be so eager to undermine their public image damage control efforts with such acts.

But there has been a third, unexpected benefit of the rallies. Multiple participants have privately expressed their deep frustration with the cops after having been brutalized and having witnessed friends getting brutalized. These participants greatly appreciate the rallies as the only outlet they have to actually express and release that frustration. (Well, the only legal outlet, anyway.) Indeed, any efforts to combat police brutality must not only be effective in stopping the brutality, but must be uplifting for those victims who have yet to see justice. Victims need to know they are not alone and that they don’t need to be isolated.

With police brutality now in public discussion, we must then follow up by challenging unfair prejudices that still prevail in our minds and in the minds of our neighbors. We must challenge the practice of blaming the victims. We must get people to see that killing someone because they shoplifted is not justified in any way, regardless of who wore what badge. We must challenge the idea that such force is a justified tactic (except in the most self-defensive situations). And as we take on this important issue, we must challenge those in the rest of the community who would focus their attention on critiquing the actions, motivations, and character of those who are fighting back against police brutality. We must help our neighbors understand that the issue is, and will always be, state brutality, and not how people defend themselves.

The next step is to directly challenge police authority, starting with their autonomy. Police brutality will never end until individual cops are brought to some kind of meaningful justice for the crimes they commit, the cop crimes they defend, and the cop crimes they ignore.

One method of changing this is to establish a police oversight board, where police officers are forced to explain why they took actions they did in more concrete terms than “I just made a judgment call,” where they may even have their stories scrutinized according to the testimony of the victims. In the past, city-sponsored oversight boards have largely been ineffectual, often having no actual authority to enforce anything, and usually being relegated to reviewing training procedures. (36) In some cases, city-sponsored oversight boards have even been populated with police themselves, thus making them just another part of the institution that needs to be challenged. An oversight board must be independent, accountable to the concerns of the community, and must have power. Oversight boards will, of course, only work at reforming a corrupt institution, but at least with them we can start to see some relenting in the assault, profiling, and rampant disregard for human life and dignity.

Police authority is also enforced, in part, by the fear and apprehension they (and society) instill in each of us. Challenging police brutality must also challenge this forfeited authority. Local anti-cop organizers are encouraging people to laugh in the presence of cops, undermining their power. Cops need to know that they are both opposed and not feared. Other methods, like the above mentioned rallies, are also effective at negating the fear associated with confronting police institutions.

Finally, alternatives need to be created. It’s not enough to dissolve the cops or the state, if only because it would create a power vacuum where something else of similar behavior could take their place. In practical terms, if someone you know is the victim of harassment by a disgruntled ex, we as a community must come together and defend them. This will not only take the cops out of the equation, but will also instill in us as a community the confidence we need to regulate our own behaviors according to widely accepted standards of decency. As long as we rely on police for basic self-protection, we can never break ourselves of their abuse.

To recap, here’s what you and your friends can do right now to help challenge police brutality:

• Join our weekly anti-cop rallies! Every Tuesday, from 4-6pm, along the 4th `Avenue Bridge!

• Support the creation of an independent oversight board!

• Tell your friends, neighbors, and coworkers what you really think about the cops!

• Next time you would call the cops, call your friends instead!

• And next time you see cops, laugh behind their backs!

Wally Cuddeford is an anti-war activist, journalist, and U.S. Navy veteran. He lives in Olympia, WA.

Sources

1 – “Police Step Up the Harassment of Olympia Activists”

By Laury Kenton, Portland IndyMedia – July 31, 2007

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2 – For a full detailing of brutalities during the protests at the Port of Tacoma, read “Port of Tacoma: Eleven Days of Resistance”

By Wally Cuddeford, Works In Progress – April 2007

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3 – “Port Protests Escalate”

By Scott Gutierrez, The Olympian – May 31, 2006

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4 – “Stand-Off At the Port of Olympia Gate”

By Lindsay Adams, Works In Progress – July 2006

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5 – “Hundreds Rally For Illegal War Refuser Lt. Watada At Fort Lewis”

By Jeff Paterson – August 18, 2006

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6 – Two photos by Tony Overman, The Olympian.

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7 – “Video: Demonstrator Arrested In Port Protest”

By KIRO TV 7 Seattle – March 2007

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8 – “Military Ships Weapons of War Out of Grays Harbor”

By 143tbone, YouTube – May 8, 2007

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9 – “More and More Activist Dismissals!”

By Works In Progress – August 2007

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10 – “The First Amendment Prevails, Despite Efforts By the ‘Free Press’”

By Gar Lipow, Works In Progress – August 2007

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11 – “Olympia Critical Mass Bike Parade Met With Resistance From OPD”

By T Claw, Works In Progress – December 2006

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12 – “First Week at Camp Quixote”

By Ray Kavick, Works In Progress – March 2007

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13 – “Free Radio Olympia Suspends Operations Due To FCC Harassment”

By Drew Hendricks and DJ Megawatti, Works In Progress – June 2007

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14 – “Protesters March Again, 4 Years Later”

By Phuong Cat Le, Seattle Post-Intelligencer – March 18, 2007

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(Five photos of the arrest accompany the article)

15 – “Tacoma Update #3”

By Tomas Caballito, Seattle IndyMedia – June 6, 2007

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16 – “Anti-Minutemen Protest, Seattle 8/18/07”

By eliasjh, YouTube – August 18, 2007

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17 – “Victory Statement From the International Anarchist Conspiracy”

By IAC, Portland IndyMedia – August 18, 2007

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18 – “Long Hair David’s Case Is Finally Settled”

By Drew Hendricks, Works In Progress – May 2006

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19 – “October 5 Seattle, Washington”

By Insurrectionary Anarchists of Seattle – October 5, 2006

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20 – “Give Peace a Chance --- Tacoma Police Riot”

By Joseph La Sac, YouTube – March 10, 2007

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21 – “Port of Tacoma Police Riot – Camera #2”

By Joseph La Sac, YouTube – March 10, 2007

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22 – “Barricades Were Not Thrown --- Full Footage Response to Police”

By Joseph La Sac, YouTube – March 11, 2007

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23 – “Tear Gassed at Seattle WTO Protests”

By Save the Redwoods / Boycott the Gap - 2000

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24 – “Oly 22 – Case Dismissed!”

By Phan Nguyen, Works In Progress – July 2007

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25 – “Stryker Protest – The Legal Aftermath: Three trial dates set in Tacoma”

By Mark Jensen, United For Peace of Pierce County – August 17, 2007

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26 – “Pre-Camp Suzanne Photos”

By Wally Cuddeford – August 18, 2006

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27 – “Community Rallies Against Nazi Group”

By Peter Bohmer, Works In Progress – August 2006

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28 – “Immigrant Raid In Shelton”

By Free Radio Olympia – June 1, 2007

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29 – “Raid In Shelton, 25 Detained – Mobilize!”

By Smash ICE, Portland IndyMedia – August 10, 2007

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30 – “Olympia Gains Sidewalk Ordinance”

By Matt Batcheldor, The Olympian – December 13, 2006

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31 – For more on Olympia’s sidewalk ordinance, read “Selective Enforcement Keeps the Olympia Homeless Worrying About More Than the Yellow Reign of Patrons”

By Wally Cuddeford, Works In Progress – December 2006

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32 – “State Trooper Shoots, Kills Driver Near Highway 101”

By Jeremy Pawloski, The Olympian – August 7, 2007

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33 – “Investigation Into the Death of Stephen Edwards”

By Drew Hendricks, Works In Progress – April 2003

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34 – The story of David Brame is well documented, most notably through a compilation of pieces available on the Tacoma News Tribune website:

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35 – “What Were the Police Thinking?”

By Works In Progress – August 2007

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36 – “Police Conduct At Port Will Get Citizen Review”

By Kris Sherman, Tacoma News Tribune – April 1, 2007

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Photos

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Thurston County Sheriff's Deputies pepper spray inert protesters, May 30, 2006. Photo by David Loren

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A portion of the Washington State Patrol escort for 10 members of the neo-Nazi NSM, July 4, 2006. Photo by Wally Cuddeford

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Washington State Troopers arrest Doug Nielson for holding a pro-Watada banner on I-5 overpass outside Fort Lewis, August 16, 2006. (Police have arrested no anti-Watada demonstrators for similar infringements.) Photo by Jeff Paterson.

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Police snipers situate on a rooftop overlooking peaceful demonstrators at the Port of Tacoma, March 12, 2007. Photo by Rob Whitlock.

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Olympia demonstrators tell motorists what they really think about the police, August 7, 2007. Photo by Jami Williams.