[h8kurdt]

Originally Posted by Robert Schunk

I wasn't there, but there was a small demonstration to defund the police in front of the Public Safety Complex this evening (about which cause which I have mixed feelings, as I do believe that police are overtasked with social service issues which their training doesn't really equip them to handle, and would better be handled by social services professionals, yet understand that the police are first on the scene, and should be fully funded to operate with social services backup available).

Five arrests were made, largely in response to the arrest a couple of days ago of a teenaged girl for allegedly striking an officer with her bullhorn (the law around here only allows amplification at demonstrations to the point that it's barely audible, as I indicated in an earlier post about a BLM demo I attended where I couldn't hear a thing), along with a man who allegedly attempted to interfere with her arrest.

Anyways, one observer at this evening's demo said the following: “Look at them, they are dressed to the nines of riot gear. They are over funded not supporting the needs of the community and the needs of communities across the country,” Justin Bloomberg said.

I would disagree with that statement, as I attended the huge (40.000 strong) demonstration in Boston of August 2017 where there was a near-riot, and the police there were wearing body armor and plastic shin guards. The Providence police shown here are wearing helmets and carrying clubs and shields, but nothing else. They certainly weren't wearing full combat gear as were about a dozen of the police who responded to the murder I witnessed last August.
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That aged like milk didn't it.