Yes because a peaceful demonstration requires an entire police department. And there was no way to call in any other cops. Fault for this is purely on the city.

From TFA "Officers were preparing for an Occupy protest headed to UC Berkeley from Oakland and said it didn't appear to be an emergency."

Great move, the city is about to write someone a very big check.

jehovahs witness protection: All of the anti-American scum commie OWS idiots deserve to be executed on the spot.
Yes, I would personally do it.

2/10 +1 ITG bonus point.

I bet the reactions of everyone here would be exactly opposite if this was a Tea Party protest.

Its Berkeley. Dont send em out for someone smoking a joint. Tell them the dog food is non organic non gmo and that theres a threat to the malagasy water tarsier. Thatll bring out the swat team.

/lefty. Berkeley is oppressively left in a lot of ways.

RussianPooper: Most demonstrations start out peaceful, these particular ones have shown themselves to attract people that move the demonstration beyond "peaceful".

aka Police.

ArkAngel: WhyteRaven74: From TFA "Officers were preparing for an Occupy protest headed to UC Berkeley from Oakland and said it didn't appear to be an emergency."

Great move, the city is about to write someone a very big check.

Nope. SCOTUS has already said that police have no duty to protect us, which while it sounds horrible, is legally the right decision. Otherwise suits like the one you suggested would be far more commonplace and bankrupt cities

It's sad but true - the police simply do what politicians want these days, all you have to do is watch one of the videos of them beating people to see the police care more about a paycheck than justice

GoldSpider: I bet the reactions of everyone here would be exactly opposite if this was a Tea Party protest.

Whatever, dude.

TV news here was saying the guy called 311 the non-emergency police number which is why they gave it low priority.

They are just using OWS as a scapegoat. I'm sure the commies really did burn the Reichstag too!

GoldSpider: I bet the reactions of everyone here would be exactly opposite if this was a Tea Party protest.

I'm trying to figure out who's the bigger idiot, you or CMan.

The initial call was for trespassing. Even under normal conditions do you really think the police were gonna come with sirens screaming for a trespassing call?

I fail to see a story here.

From TFA "Officers were preparing for an Occupy protest headed to UC Berkeley from Oakland and said it didn't appear to be an emergency."

So there wasn't even a protest in the city yet. These geniuses decided to divert so much man power away from the streets so that they could PREPARE for a protest that wasn't even happening yet that they couldn't respond to a call where they were really needed.This is just idiotic on so many levels.

ArkAngel: WhyteRaven74: From TFA "Officers were preparing for an Occupy protest headed to UC Berkeley from Oakland and said it didn't appear to be an emergency."

Great move, the city is about to write someone a very big check.

Nope. SCOTUS has already said that police have no duty to protect us, which while it sounds horrible, is legally the right decision. Otherwise suits like the one you suggested would be far more commonplace and bankrupt cities

If police have no duty to protect us then we have no duty to fund them. Time to eliminate them and establish a true law enforcement agency that is here to protect the People.

OWS sure does scare some people for some reason.

WhyteRaven74: Great move, the city is about to write someone a very big check

No. It has been solidly established for almost half a century that the police have no legal duty to protect you. See Warren vs. DC.

only emergency calls were to be handled.

If this is the official response from the cops the chances are that this was not, in fact, a 911 call. There are several non-emergency numbers that you can use to contact emergency services, I believe someone already mentioned 311.

When it comes down to either the internet-journalist being incompetent and not realizing that it wasn't a 911 call or the dispatcher being incompetent and filing a 911 call regarding a home invasion under non-urgent status, I would lay my money on the former.

RussianPooper: Most demonstrations start out peaceful, these particular ones have shown themselves to attract people that move the demonstration beyond "peaceful".

You know, various people keep claiming this, but I'm yet to see a shred of proof - got any links?

/No, seriously, I'd like to see some links.
//I don't live in America, so my opinions of the protests are based on what I read.
///Cases where the police killed/injured protesters don't count as OWS-based violence, though.

Tea party protests have more guns, less rape and vandalism.

/you can't explain that
//lower death toll too, but mentioning that might make heads explode

SilentStrider: WhyteRaven74: Yes because a peaceful demonstration requires an entire police department. And there was no way to call in any other cops. Fault for this is purely on the city.

Needs repeated for emphasis.

I don't know; I think the deranged kid with the flower pot is somewhat culpable.

hitlersbrain: The initial call was for trespassing. Even under normal conditions do you really think the police were gonna come with sirens screaming for a trespassing call?

I fail to see a story here.

Well why are they saying the reason that they couldn't respond to the call in a timely fashion is because they were busy PREPARING for an OWS protest that was headed to the city? If trespassing calls normally don't elicit that type of police response they should say that instead of trying to use an OWS protest that wasn't even happening yet as a scapegoat.

RussianPooper: tricycleracer: RussianPooper: Most demonstrations start out peaceful, these particular ones have shown themselves to attract people that move the demonstration beyond "peaceful".

aka Police.

What a load of bull. Refusing to accept responsibility just shows you to be a child.

I'll just leave this here...

Fluorescent Testicle: RussianPooper: Most demonstrations start out peaceful, these particular ones have shown themselves to attract people that move the demonstration beyond "peaceful".

You know, various people keep claiming this, but I'm yet to see a shred of proof - got any links?

/No, seriously, I'd like to see some links.
//I don't live in America, so my opinions of the protests are based on what I read.
///Cases where the police killed/injured protesters don't count as OWS-based violence, though.

He's talking about this guy.

Fluorescent Testicle: RussianPooper: Most demonstrations start out peaceful, these particular ones have shown themselves to attract people that move the demonstration beyond "peaceful".

You know, various people keep claiming this, but I'm yet to see a shred of proof - got any links?

/No, seriously, I'd like to see some links.
//I don't live in America, so my opinions of the protests are based on what I read.
///Cases where the police killed/injured protesters don't count as OWS-based violence, though.

I'm beginning to think the only way to fix this country is to have people like us bomb the hell out of it. Maybe whomever is left will think a little differently about working together.

Maybe.

I went to Cal, so I know that when people think Berkeley protests, they think of dudes who look like Jesus and hairy girls peacefully smoking pot and not getting into any real trouble.

But Berkeley, aside from all those hippies, is Oakland. And there are super ghetto high school kids in Berkeley who add a really unpredictable element to any big shindig in town. For instance, a Berkeley High School tradition used to be to annually break into and loot a local market.

The police know this, and that's why the OWS protests make them nervous. If the situation gets out of control, there will be crazy looting.

I see OWS is out making themselves useful again. Maybe they'll vandalize some private property again or elect a dog as their spokesperson. Boy, that'll sure show us how serious they are.

RussianPooper: The idea that a police presence is not necessary is ludicrous.

"A police presence", huh?

So many police that 911 calls start getting ignored? Or do you have so few cops in Oakland that you can't spare a few to keep an eye on some peaceful protesters? What the hell do you people do when the Raiders play a home game, call in units from surrounding municipalities?

I really see no way in which this isn't just incredibly poor planning on the part of the cops.

RussianPooper: Also, what is more likely, violence at an OWS rally or a murder near Grizzly Peak Rd.?

you do make a point...although the view up on Grizzly Peak does attract the dregs at times. they have arms and legs, the distance separating good and bad parts of town is not that much.

jehovahs witness protection: All of the anti-American scum commie OWS idiots deserve to be executed on the spot.
Yes, I would personally do it.

Well who's stopping you, tough guy? Get to executin'!