Deploying riot police, UC? Little Brother is watching
By Alan C. Miller
UC Davis gained worldwide attention on Nov. 18 — and a permanent association with pepper spray. Locally, we cannot allow ourselves to be metaphorically blinded by the same stinging, orange mist. To focus on pepper spray detaches the incident from the administrators responsible for the escalation of aggression.
Civil disobedience is a cornerstone of expression in our country. Part of nonviolent civil disobedience is violating a few rules that annoy authorities but do not cause harm. Reactions by authorities to minor, peaceful infractions must be reasonable and measured.
Peaceful protest is so honored by UC Davis that the university devoted the summer 2010 issue of its official magazine to the subject. In that issue, well-known Davis activist Bob Black stated that Davis activists in the 1960s “were confrontational and unruly, but it never turned violent. The police didn’t wear their helmets or have their night sticks out.”
Current Vice Chancellor Fred Wood, quoted in the same magazine, describes student activism as “part of what a well-rounded education is all about.” Ironically, Wood was one of a group of 13 administrators who met the morning of Nov. 18 and deployed the riot gear-clad police force.
In 2010, the UCD administration worked with students on the Shields Library “weekend sleepover.” Similarly, Chancellor Linda Katehi gave the OK for protesters to camp on the Quad the night of Wednesday, Nov. 16. Two days later she asked them to leave.
The protesters were peaceful until the police arrived. The dangerous escalation of events was not caused by the police field decision to use pepper spray. Subsequent bad behavior on the part of both police and protesters was set in motion by the initial, absurd decision to deploy police in riot gear against peaceful, camping protesters.
Protesters reacted to the show of force, but they did not react in kind. Nonviolence is not pacifism; nonviolence is active. The purpose of nonviolent techniques is to reduce the level of tension, to reflect aggression back on itself. Police themselves are trained in techniques of nonviolence and use them regularly to defuse tension in precarious encounters.
On Nov. 18 the police instead chose — or were told to use — a strategy that drastically raised the level of tension. The presence of riot gear spiked the level of tension. Once the level of tension is raised, safety is compromised. In such a dynamic, the outcome is unknown. That campus administrators gambled student safety on the unknown outcome of a confrontation with armed police is contemptible.
Administrators likely expected such a large contingent of police to simply overwhelm protesters and “solve the tent problem.” Those who planned and sanctioned the raid on the encampment were gravely naïve of power dynamics: When you employ physical power against a peaceful force, the political power goes to the peaceful.
The administrators’ failed strategy created the worst PR meltdown in UCD history. Instead of being associated primarily with vet, med, law and ag schools, UC Davis is now — and forever may be — associated with pepper spray. Thousands have pledged to cease donations. No campaign by a high-priced PR firm could have so effectively wrecked UCD’s image.
Most disturbing — and least discussed — are the minutes following the pepper-spraying itself. Visibly nervous police are slowly driven off the Quad in shame by an ever-swelling crowd of hundreds of students, police pellet rifles partially raised at the oncoming crowd chanting “You can go!” Old-school police apparently failed to consider the power of texting to assemble a crowd that can quickly overwhelm a police force.
However imperfect the comparison to Kent State, few things are more dangerous than a police or military unit that perceives itself as outnumbered and no longer in control. Watch the video of the police retreat again. Tension was high, with police fingers literally on the trigger. Imagine what would have happened had one lone miscreant thrown a rock at a cop, or if a trigger-happy officer was spooked by an especially loud snap, crackle or pop.
Police deployed in the name of health and safety (diarrhea from warm cream cheese?) instead themselves caused numerous protester injuries. Police also created the potential for more serious harm — however unlikely — such as someone getting bludgeoned or shot. Protesters’ collective nonviolence may have saved the police from themselves and the campus from a potential tragedy.
The responsibility of campus police is, primarily, to ensure staff and student safety, not to enforce some authority’s idea of “order.” Students are not waiting for the results of investigations to protect themselves from the poor judgment of campus authority.
“1984” introduced “Big Brother,” the overseeing eye of authoritarian government. 2011 hatched the defense of the masses, “Little Brother”: every student with a cell phone camera, access to worldwide video posting, instant alerts to others via texting and the nuclear deterrent: mass (SMS) texting servers.
Administrators and police will not make the mistake of Nov. 18 again, because the Little Brother SMS Server will — upon confirmation of a police deployment with riot gear — instantly send thousands of texts to students, alumni, citizens and — perhaps most terrifying to UC Davis administrators — civil rights lawyers.
An exponentially swelling crowd will converge upon any such deployment within minutes. Campus administrators nationwide should take heed. The knowledge that “Little Brother is out there” will keep inappropriate police deployments in check. Of course, administrators could still attempt to overwhelm protesters by calling in the National Guard, but we all know where that leads.
Dozens of police officers from multiple departments showing up at the Occupier’s Ball in the same sexy black dress was not some unfortunate fashion faux pas. What hallucination caused UCD administrators to see fiery death in 50 UC students, alumni and a few Davis townies camping on the Quad?
By comparison, a handful of Sacramento police in street uniforms peacefully removed 150 homeless campers from the American River levee in late December by talking to them and helping them pack up.
That administrators did not give the order to pepper spray is believable. That administrators were unaware of — nor responsible for — the method of deployment is not believable. There is no need to wait for the various investigation reports to establish the following bottom-line policy for California campus police: “Never again shall riot gear be deployed on a California campus, unless there is an actual riot.”
— Alan C. Miller is a 32-year resident of Davis and a UC Davis graduate, with a bachelor’s degree in geology. He organizes nonviolence workshops for the UC Davis Whole Earth Festival “Karma Patrol” volunteers, and has facilitated these workshops for more than 12 years. On Dec. 14, Miller testified on the events of Nov. 18 before the California Senate Education Committee at a hearing regarding procedures for California campus police and on-campus demonstrations.
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Posted by Special to The Enterprise
on Jan 12 2012.
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I appreciate the thoughtful observations in the column. Looking forward to the official reports.
Thank you for the thoughtful observations.
Very well stated and insightful. Thank you.
Where is the letter that Katehi gave OK for the protesters to stay on Nov16?
You’ve come a long way from water sampling @ Aerojet my friend.