Not only Goodman, but the entire Democracy Now team are professional journalists in the best sense of that term. Those who are simply assuming that they probably got what they deserved -- and who are, more generally, defending the Police here simply because some actual criminals engaged in destructive behavior -- are no different than those who justify anything and everything the Government does because there are some Terrorists out there and they're really violent.
I highly recommend watching this interview with Goodman, which was taped immediately after her release from police custody.
For a more extensive examination of the police's tactics, check out the reporting Matt Snyders has been doing:
Just over three months ago, we wrote of the FBI's effort to recruit moles to infiltrate and report back on peace activists throughout the Twin Cities ("Moles Wanted," 5/21/08). Upon the story's appearance in print, bemusement gave way to outraged speculation on message boards and in conversation. The idea of the federal government keeping tabs on "vegan potlucks" seemed at the time almost too absurd to be true.
But any doubts were eliminated Friday when the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department and St. Paul police—working under the direction of federal agencies, including the FBI—began raiding homes of protesters throughout the metro. Before the weekend was through, authorities would arrest six people and detain dozens more in a preemptive strike against would-be RNC rabble-rousers.
Given Snyders' story from May, it's obvious just how extensively the authorities prepared for this event. It's not as though they're just running around doing all of this on the fly.
So why all the secrecy? Wouldn't it be better for the police to operate in a much more transparent fashion?
Rather than tossing people with video cameras in jail, the police should be taping everything themselves. It's not as though such equipment is overly expensive, bulky, or difficult to use these days. In fact, it would probably be relatively easy to integrate some sort of cameras into the police's riot gear itself--on their helmets, rifles, or anywhere else.
There is no doubt that some of the protesters at the RNC are engaging in dangerous and violent activity. And there is no question that the police should arrest such people in order to protect everyone else. But all police activity should be recorded and those recordings should all be uploaded to the Internet. Then knowing which arrests and other uses of force are justified and which are not would be quite simple.
Given what is possible with today's technology there is simply no justification for police operations such as this one to be so opaque. Turning a common knee-jerk pro-law enforcement slogan around, if the police aren't doing anything wrong, then what do they have to hide?
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