“To Fisk,” means to refute, point by point, a published story; the verb comes from the left-wing British journalist Robert Fisk, whose slanted dispatches are often ruthlessly “fisked” in the blogosphere. Big Journalism’s comments on the text of the Washington Post’s “Cops Say There Was No ‘Escort’ For Bank Protesters” are in green:
A tempest developed in the conservative blogosphere over the weekend, with the D.C. police at the center of the storm. the language art of belittling: “a tempest (as in a teapot) developed in the conservative blogosphere.” A bit condescending.
The controversy surrounds a May 16 protest organized by liberal group National People’s Action a group that merits some investigating and the Service Employees International Union. Hundreds of protesters targeted two homes in Chevy Chase, Md. — one belonging to a Bank of America attorney, the other to a J.P. Morgan Chase lobbyist — for raucous rallies decrying Wall Street’s efforts to influence bank-reform legislation. That’s not what the video clips feature. They feature a wider, anti-capitalist agenda in play.
The protests had already garnered much attention from conservative activists upset that liberal activists would target bank employees at their homes. Then Big Journalism, a Web site started by digital media mogul Andrew Breitbart, published an item on Friday claiming that D.C. police officers had “escorted” the protesters to the residences. The word “escorted” came as Cpl. Dan Friz of the Montgomery County PD and I discussed the right word to describe the MPD’s role. I suggested a couple of options, like “accompanied” and then “how about escorted?” to which he readily agreed and repeated the word. If they had a vehicle at the front of the caravan, it’s an escort. The item was picked up by influential bloggers, and yesterday, the Washington Examiner published an editorial titled “No more police escorts for union thugs.” “Thugs” was the Examiner’s characterization.
Assistant Chief Patrick Burke, who oversees homeland security and special operations for the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, denies that the protesters were ever “escorted.” Rather, he said, standard procedure is for police to monitor mass protests both to keep protesters safe and prevent any mischief. Monitor? Really? The word carries a judicatory nuance with the authority to take corrective action – like a hall monitor. What, exactly, were they monitoring?
“Essentially we’ll shadow a “shadow” is not a “monitor” you, make sure nobody’s being hit by cars, that you’re complying with traffic laws as much as possible,” Burke said Tuesday. “We did not have knowledge of what their addresses were going to be or even that they were going to leave Washington, D.C.”
Marcus Mrowka, an SEIU spokesperson, confirms that the organizers didn’t notify police ahead of time. The demonstration in Montgomery County required a permit. None, according to Friz, was obtained or even sought.
About a dozen uniformed officers, Burke said, were tasked with keeping an eye on the rally, but none crossed the Maryland line. So if the SEIU people were in buses how could their rally be observed? One plainclothes detective, he said, inadvertently crossed the unmarked border while on Beach Drive, but radioed Montgomery County police as soon as she realized where she was — on Leland Street, about three blocks from the District. So, in fact, a Metro police unit was in Maryland.
Cpl. Dan Friz, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County police, provided a reporter with entries from his department’s computer dispatch system. A dispatcher received an initial call from a neighbor shortly after 4 p.m. Less than 10 minutes later, a report indicated that D.C. police were “on scene advising very large crowd.” Confirmation. Another message citing D.C. police referred to protesters massing on Leland Street. Another confirmation.
Friz, who wasn’t on the scene that day, said he inferred from the dispatch language that there were multiple D.C. police units on the scene but could not verify how many. Confirmation. Three people present at the rally, including Mrowka, said they saw no D.C. police on the scene in Chevy Chase. Hardly unbiased sources.
There was nothing improper in the way that District police handled the situation, Which is exactly what he told Big Journalism Friz said Tuesday. “It wasn’t like the D.C. cops were running lights and [blaring] sirens,” he said. “Do we do motorcade escorts all the time? There’s the word “escort.” Confirmation. Absolutely. But I don’t think that was the case here.” And D.C. police are under no obligation, he said, to notify his department if officers are merely observing a crowd. Perhaps not, but Friz did sound a bit peeved that the MPD didn’t advise his department of the unusually large size of the demonstration.
The accounts from Burke and Friz are seconded by D.C. police union chief Kristopher Baumann — known for bulldogging the MPD brass on any questionable use of police resources. He said Tuesday that he had made his own inquiries within the department and didn’t find anything inappropriate. We never stated that the Metropolitan PD acted inappropriately. We merely reported what happened. Baumann said he had reviewed video posted at Big Journalism and at other sites and was unable to find any police presence at all. The videos focus on the front of the house where the protesters were stationary, in violation, by the way, of the Montgomery Code which, according to Friz, says that demonstrators have to keep moving, as in a picket circle.
Burke saw some irony in the to-do: “It’s funny, because typically I’m getting a lot of grief from the other side of this — the unions and the protesters saying we’re overzealous against them.” SEIU complains that the MPD are too zealous against them? We’d like to see that.
In conclusion: They didn’t lay a glove on us. And they still haven’t commented on engaging in an illegal (since they had no permit) demonstration at a private residence where the obvious intent was to intimidate.
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