Denver cops aren't buying exotic crowd-control weapons for DNC
By Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Denver officials expect to spend more than $18 million on police equipment for the Democratic National Convention, but the purchases won't include high-tech weapons that use sonic waves to incapacitate protesters or "goo" guns to immobilize them.
That information, provided by the city to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of an agreement to delay a public records lawsuit, marks one of the most detailed looks at the supersecret efforts to provide security for the convention Aug. 25 to 28.
The ACLU sued Denver in May under the state's public records law after city officials refused to provide documents showing what kind of police equipment it was buying with part of a $50 million federal grant to provide security during the DNC.
No decision on that suit will be made until after the convention, representatives of the city and the ACLU said. A second suit, filed by the ACLU over concerns about police tactics toward protesters, is scheduled for a trial in federal court next week.
But Wednesday, Mayor John Hickenlooper heralded the release of the security budget, which included line item expenditures but few details, as a sign of the city's commitment "to provide the most effective and comprehensive security possible while maintaining an event that is inclusive and enjoyable for all."
Denver police officials have been extremely circumspect in answering questions about either their security plans for the convention or their equipment purchases.
Deputy Chief of Operations Michael Battista spoke in only general terms about equipment purchases when he was asked about them by City Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.
"I'm purchasing equipment that's going to protect my officers, and to try and defeat what they're trying to accomplish - the unlawful activity they're trying to accomplish," Battista said of some protesters. "So if they know what tools I have, then they'll build their plan to defeat my tools."
Later, the city disclosed more details about its purchases, which are projected to come in at $18.2 million.
They will not include nonlethal weapons that use "slime" or "goo" to immobilize protesters or that use microwaves or sonic waves to induce pain or other discomfort. Some convention watchers had alleged that the city might purchase that kind of weapon or one that would cause people to defecate.
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July 24, 2008
6:13 a.m.
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youngman writes:
The City Police won't buy it...but I bet the National Guard or the other Military that is there has it....
July 24, 2008
7:20 a.m.
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LingLingfor_prez writes:
Aren't most protesters already incapacitated?
July 24, 2008
7:58 a.m.
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The_Punnisher writes:
After the last few days, I wouldn't believe ANYTHING that comes out of the mayor's office....
What is REALLY frightening is that the mayor doesn't even care what the facts are and that he made an OPEN FACED LIE...only ROYALTY or a DICTATOR can be as detached as that...
July 24, 2008
8:04 a.m.
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davies writes:
These WMDs may or may not be utilized at the DNC, but if Obama is elected president, I expect him to unleash his Oratory Sonic Wave Weapon on Congress, which will in turn promptly counterattack with its own weapon of choice, the Immobilizing Goo Gun of Posturing, Inaction and Apathy.
July 24, 2008
8:14 a.m.
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Cowboy63 writes:
Since we will see "re-create" 68... just use what they used back then.
Clubs, water cannons, tear gas and dogs. And hire 1000 temp cops and a huge holding pen for the duration. That should do it, and come in under the federal grant to boot!
July 24, 2008
8:25 a.m.
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Scott writes:
As a South Park fan I "really" want to see Denver bring in Kenny, Kyle, Stan and Cartman to play the "brown note" on their recorders.
Scott
July 24, 2008
8:45 a.m.
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HolierThanThou writes:
Evidently, conservatives don't believe in the 1st Amendment. That thing about free speech really gives them fits.
Conservatives have never been cool with the whole idea of human rights. They didn't want to give up slavery, even demanding that each one of their slaves count for 3/5 of a vote without actually letting them vote. It took a Civil War to straighten them out on that one.
Now they're into foisting their crackpot religion on us. They say America is a "Christian" nation when they themselves provide all the proof we need to show that it's anything but. Then they get mad when we question their worship of Bush, crackpot notions about Jesus, and love for bloodshed and bombing so long as it doesn't happen their sorry little cowardly butts.
Conservatives spend government money like drunken sailors. At least the drunken sailor was spending his own money. But they don't do anything good with it. They give it to war-profiteering billionaires, hire mercenaries to rape and kill folks abroad, and of course, line their own pockets with the inevitable kickbacks from all that stuff. No wonder the US government is borrowing billions and selling us out to China, a potential adversary and most certain international competitor.
But ask a conservative to spend a little money on something that actually provides some benefit and value to the American public? Oh, NOOOO! They react like sack full of tomcats rolling around in a bonfire.
I've met some lowlifes in my life... bums, drunks, whores, drug addicts, and the whole gamut. But nobody beats a conservative to get any lower, nobody...
That's why conservatives hate the 1st Amendment. It let's us tell the truth about them.
July 24, 2008
8:50 a.m.
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ggonzo writes:
Goo Gun!!! Wait... Wait..... Wait..........Go, I shoot my wife with my goo gun almost every day!!!! Never stoped Her!!! Sorry Folks too easy.......................
July 24, 2008
9 a.m.
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davies writes:
HolierTT: Thanks for your selfless, balanced, fair and truthful appraisal of tens of millions of conservative Americans. They are ALL BAD, ALL THE TIME.
May you be judged in an equally fair and open-minded manner.
July 24, 2008
9:24 a.m.
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Firedewd writes:
So I guess the U.S. is full of bums, drunks, whores, drug addicts and the rest are republicans?
July 24, 2008
9:57 a.m.
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DenverDan writes:
NotChasB
They have no class what so ever. You will not find these sorts of dregs and nut cases in the GOP or at their National Convention behaving like crimminals and animals.
That is because they will be inside the GOP Convention!!
July 25, 2008
4:49 p.m.
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duncan writes:
If anyone who should be in attendance of the DNC protest and if thye should becoem a vicitm of police brutality then feel free to post you story on this forum.
http://www.copwatch.net/forums/index....