Torture Under Color of Authority

Call me old fashioned. I still believe that a cop’s job is to be a peace officer. Cops are not supposed to inflict violence on nonviolent citizens.

That may sound obvious. It isn’t obvious to the Humboldt County sheriff, the Eureka Police Department, some police organizations or a former cop, Rep. Frank Riggs (R-Windsor).

On Oct. 16, Humboldt deputies, called in by Eureka police, swabbed liquid pepper spray into the eyes of nonviolent, pro-environment protesters sitting in at Riggs’ office in Eureka. At no time did the protesters threaten the congressman, his staff or the cops. An earlier incident, on Sept. 16 at the headquarters of the Pacific Lumber Co. in Scotia, also involved Humboldt sheriff’s deputies using the spray on nonviolent protesters.

Both of these incidents of torture--neither any kind of appropriate police procedure--were videotaped and broadcast on TV. The case is rich with irony: While we were on the brink of war with Iraq over Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons, American police officers used chemical weapons on nonviolent citizens. The ruler of China was condemned here for repressing dissent; as he departed, Humboldt deputies, with the blessing of a congressman, tortured dissenters protesting the cutting of ancient redwoods in the Headwaters Forest.

Thirty years ago, early in my law enforcement career, cops (myself included) were insensitive to the civil liberties of civil rights and antiwar protesters. We were called “pigs”--sometimes deservedly so--because we trampled on protesters and their constitutional right to protest.

By the 1990s, when I was police chief in New Haven, Conn., I had learned to work with protesters to minimize surprise and disturbances. Together, we would arrange for the orderly processing of protest offenses to maintain peace.

When police officials learn that a protest is being planned, they should call the organizers and offer to help in the planning. Peaceful, robust protest is part of the debate in a democratic society. Cops have a balancing, calming role in the protest--to allow the constitutionally protected communication to take place and to help keep order.

Protesters still pay a legal price when their actions are illegal, but the community endures a minimum of public disruption. Handling a typical protest like a sit-in at a congressman’s office without violence should be routine for a modern American police department.

Cops should never use weapons simply to inflict pain. Pain may be necessary to use to subdue someone who is violent. It is not the job of cops to punish--that’s the job for the courts after trial and conviction. The credo of modern cops is “work with the community” Cops are almost never called “pigs” anymore.

The Humboldt County sheriff didn’t apologize for the torture, nor did the Eureka police. Now both departments face a costly lawsuit and an FBI investigation. Riggs, a former Healdsburg policeman and Sonoma County deputy sheriff, backed the cops. Surprisingly, Hubert Williams, the president of the Washington-based Police Foundation, long an advocate for progressive policing, didn’t condemn this action. He told the Los Angeles Times, “What it means [for police] to put the spray in the eye in liquid form, I don’t know.” Hubert, it means that some departments remain comfortable attacking their citizens without provocation.

Law enforcement leaders like the Police Foundation, the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the Police Executive Research Forum and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives should protect the public--including protesters--and the cops by speaking out for peace over violent provocation.