As Sacramento Prepares for Week of Protests, ACLU Cautions Against Overly Aggressive Policing

Open Letter Urges State and Local Law Enforcement to Protect First Amendment Rights
For Immediate Release: June 17, 2003

SACRAMENTO – As the City of Sacramento braces for a week of demonstrations timed to coincide with the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology (“Ag Expo”) June 23-25, the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) is urging state and local law enforcement agencies to guard against police tactics that may violate the civil liberties of protesters or bystanders.

Pointing to recent examples of overly aggressive tactics employed by police departments around the nation – including Oakland police’s use of wooden dowels, flexible batons and stinger grenades to disperse a peaceful anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland on April 7 – the ACLU today sent an open letter to CHP commissioner Spike Helmick, Sacramento Police Chief Albert Najera, and Sacramento Sheriff Lou Blanas, urging them to avoid aggressive policing and protect First Amendment rights.

“Because of this very recent experience, we are writing to urge you to take all measures possible to protect the rights of individuals participating in First Amendment related activity, “ wrote ACLU-NC Police Practices Policy Director Mark Schlosberg. “ Peaceful protest is a hallmark of a free society and law enforcement has an obligation to facilitate peaceful demonstrations.”

The letter urges law enforcement agencies in the Sacramento area to incorporate specific principles and practices into their planning and training leading up to the Ag Expo, including:

• Explicitly state in the operations plan that it is the duty of law enforcement to protect demonstrators’ rights to free speech and expression.
• Should an unlawful assembly be declared, provide multiple notices to disperse in using sound amplification so all individuals who are assembled can hear the notice. Provide clear avenues for dispersal and sufficient time to disperse.
• Should people engage in non-violent civil disobedience and not leave a properly declared unlawful assembly, do not disperse demonstrators with less-lethal munitions such as wooden dowels, stinger grenades, or pepper spray as these weapons can cause significant injury to protesters and bystanders alike. Rather, should this situation arise, the proper response is to simply arrest the individuals, using minimum force. Law enforcement should not use force to punish protesters for engaging in civil disobedience.
• Allow legal observers and members of the press full access to view arrests and detentions and do not arrest designated legal observers and members of the press who are monitoring such actions.
• Do not drive motorcycles or motorbikes into a crowd as a means of dispersing the crowd. Do not use horses as a means of dispersing individuals who are lying or sitting on the ground. Do not use pepper spray as a crowd control mechanism.

“We recognize that law enforcement has a difficult task ahead,” says Schlosberg. “This makes it more crucial than ever that the agencies plan ahead to ensure that protesters’ First Amendment rights are vigorously protected. We urge the Sacramento authorities to take every step possible to ensure there is no repeat of the aggressive overreactions seen recently at the Oakland Port, and at other demonstrations around the nation.”