Deputy St. Paul Police chief: Protesters at RNC will not be caged

[MnFats]

Source: WCCO tv, mpls.st.paul

Assistant St. Paul Police Chief Matt Bostrom on Monday assured state lawmakers that demonstrators outside the Republican National Convention won't be confined to fenced-in areas.

Bostrom said the city might erect barricades but he doesn't envision enclosures where protesters would be relegated. He told a legislative panel that demonstrators will be granted "sight and sound" access to the Xcel Energy Center, where the main convention business will be conducted next September.

At the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, that city set up a "free-speech zone" outside the FleetCenter surrounded by fences, barricades and razor wire. Protesters complained that the controlled area was too restrictive.

Applications for convention protest permits will be accepted beginning in March.


link: www.wcco.com

Read more: www.wcco.com

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...believe it when i see it...

[MrScorpio]

1. I hope that he can stand up to the Republicans and the Secret Service

A cop who wants to protect our rights instead of restrict them... A rare bird, indeed

[Ezlivin]

2. However, they will be gagged and bound

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. No, they will be shot on sight

Pursuant to the state of emergency the Junta will declare just prior to the convention's opening (Thank you, Congress!)

[Mnemosyne]

13. Or be 'directed' to rip

their own tongues out or kill each other maybe.

With this regime, anything goes.

See my post 11.

:hi:

[SavageDem]

4. I hope the RNC bastards are so frustrated...

...by trying to move around St. Paul that they go even more psycho than they already are. It's pretty tight around the "X" (Xcel), and it's a major junction right by downtown. It is going to be UGLY trying to get around during the convention.

[Ken Burch]

9. And remember, all their delegates will have to fly into the MINNEAPOLIS airport!

And you just KNOW some of 'em are gonna need to use the men's room.

[Mnemosyne]

14. No frustration for the bastards,

they hire all of the hookers and buy up all of the drugs when they crawl out of their graves.

Bastards.

[niceypoo]

5. Curious if it will be like Chicago 1968..

Pretty similar situation with the exception being no draft...

[SavageDem]

7. I think it depends on what the Rethugs are cooking up

If they continue to get in the way of ending occupation of Iraq, election reform, restoring civil liberties, education, progressive tax reform, and national health care, then I can see some civil unrest. And it'd be about time. We've slept too long as a nation - it's time to throw the bums out!

[frazzled]

6. They can stand anywhere on the 35W bridge they want

oops.

[Hand]

8. Now Tased, on the other hand... nt

[annabanana]

10. That's ok. There are LOTS of new "crowd control" weapons available.

There's the kind that concentrates sound to painful levels.. There's the kind that can target heat in a way that doesn't leave marks...

I wonder if the local police department has gotten any fancy grants from any federal agencies during the past year or so.

[Mnemosyne]

15. See post #11, annabanana, you are spot

on!

I can only think of how much this tech has to have advanced since the 2004 convention or they held back on how advanced it was then.

Fallujah comes to mind for some reason.

They want to put fear into the masses, to hopefully keep them from showing up, or they have perfected some terrible effects.

I have severe tinnitus and can easily imagine how insane they could drive some with a few pitches changed.



Is it time yet?

[Mnemosyne]

11. Because there is no need to cage anyone, anymore - LRAD

2004

RNC to Feature Unusual Forms of Sound
Unusual Forms of Sound to Emanate From RNC

Outside the convention hall, New York City police plan to control protesters using a device that directs sound for up to 1,500 feet in a spotlight-like beam. Meanwhile, a display of former Republican presidents inside the hall will feature campaign speeches that are funneled to listeners through highly focused audio beams.

"These are totally different from the way an ordinary speaker emits sound," said Elwood (Woody) Norris, founder and head of American Technology Corp. of San Diego. "It's like it's inside your head."

Norris, an intrepid entrepreneur who has no college degree but more than 43 patents to his name, invented both the crowd control tool, called the Long Range Acoustical Device (LRAD), and the display audio technology, called HyperSonic Sound (HSS).

Both technologies feature unprecedented manipulation of sound, but for very different purposes. And while both technologies have unique, "gee-whiz" factors, some remain uneasy with the idea of using sound to control crowds.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=99472




LRAD -

The Long Range Acoustic Device™ (LRAD®) is a highly directional acoustic array that is designed for long-range communication and unmistakable warning. The LRAD device can issue a verbal warning and has the capability of following up with a deterrent tone to influence behavior or determine intent.

Conventional high output acoustic devices have semi-spherical propagation patterns making users and anyone located behind the unit subject to excessive Sound Pressure Levels (SPL). With large inductive loads, they consume high levels of power due to low efficiencies. They are heavy, bulky, and make it almost impossible to place sound exactly where you need it. Their reflections and secondary sounds cause lack of clarity, high distortion, and low intelligibility.

To achieve its unique directivity acoustic output, the LRAD utilizes highly efficient, customized capacitive transducers and requires modest power requirements- less than 200 to 400 watts to achieve full output. The high directivity of the LRAD device reduces the risk of exposing nearby personnel or peripheral bystanders to excessive audio levels. Sound behind the LRAD unit is over 40 dB less than the on-axis forward output. The LRAD also incorporates multiple highly efficient switch-mode power conversion systems. Its inherently compact and light nature makes operating the system easy.

For very high SPL's, low power consumption, long range, narrow beam, high intelligibility, and superior operator safety; the LRAD is the premiere choice.



http://www.atcsd.com/site/content/view/37/50/


Bastards.

[Solly Mack]

12. What a headline! Protesters ...will not be caged

Damn

[karynnj]

16. Interesting that they mention Boston, but not NYC

I'm not sure this is good - things are not symmetrical. In 1968, the protests in Chicago and Miami both helped the Republicans - the law and order party. (ignore that little propensity for shredding the constitution.)

Imagine that antiwar protesters protest both the Democrats and Republicans in 2008. The candidate, no matter which one, will not satisfy the most extreme people in the party. There will be more anti-war comments than in 2004, because everyone's position has shifted, but other than maybe Kuchinich no one is for "out,now". The nominee can not lose control of any time the convention is covered - or it will be played as "If s/he can't run a convention, how can s/he run a country. Yet, cracking down could create a 1968 like defection of teh left.

On the Republican side, there is no similar conflict - they will crack down and will call the protesters "Democrats".

[loudsue]

17. The republicans SHOULD be caged.

They're all friggin' nuts.

[annabanana]

18. I am actually MORE worried about this year's conventions....

I expect that crowd control is being privatized. (for immunity's sake) and that it will involve new and freakier technology.