Occupy Wall Street and Police Accountability

In retrospect, Occupy Wall Street‘s hope for an American Tahrir Square was overly ambitious, drawing only a few hundred of the 20,000 protestors it expected. Hopes that it might meaningfully achieve its goals curtail Wall Street’s influence on the national political process may also be overly optimistic. If nothing else, however, Occupy Wall Street is relevant in light of the recent 1st Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Glik v. Cunniffe, which held that filming law enforcement officers in a public space is clearly protected by the 1st Amendment.

With any protest, particularly one of this size and duration (an impressive 9 days as of Monday, September 26th), there are bound to be conflicts with law enforcement. For Occupy Wall Street, it occurred last Saturday, the 24th, as protestors attempted to march up to Union Square. By the end of the day, over 80 protestors were arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct and resisting law enforcement. Protestors alleged, in many cases, police abuse, and this time, they had plenty of videos.

Occupy Wall Street has been focusing in particular on one incident, in which an officer allegedly maced several protestors without provocation, and what differentiates this case from other cases that I’ve seen, in which a bystander has filmed police action, is its thoroughness: this is no grainy Youtube video; Occupy Wall Street has publicized the officer’s name, compiled several videos from different protestors and different angles to support its claims, and is calling for a criminal prosecution of the officer. You can check out the footage yourself; I’m impressed.

And I’m curious to see what will come of it, but whether or not this specific officer is held accountable for his actions (whatever they were), after Glik, the ordinary citizen’s documentation of every public incident will undoubtedly have effects on police and protestor behavior alike. Certainly, police are discouraged from overstepping their authority, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that protestors are also incentivized to be on their best behaviors. We’ll see.