BY MARY MCCLEARY
Los Alamos
I was really glad you published Bruce Warren’s letter about the No Kings Day protest and the fact that Trinity remained open. I had wondered why one man took it upon himself to stand in the rightmost lane of westbound Trinity. Was he trying to turn a completely lawful protest into an act of civil disobedience? Was it a “false flag” operation to make our group unpopular for obstructing traffic? No, that was probably my neighbor Bruce, trying to look out for me and my kids. Thank you, Mr. Warren, for having our safety in mind.
As a criminal defense attorney, I spend a lot of time picking on LAPD. I joke that they don’t get enough practice investigating crime because our community has so little. Some days, LAPD is literally clueless because you can’t have a clue if you don’t have a crime. But LAPD was not figuratively clueless on Saturday. Police followed best practices easily and a lot of credit goes to the organizers for expanding a playbook that has been successful in smaller protests.
Police visibility sends a message. Whether it helps or hurts a protest, it turns up the volume. So it’s not fair to either side to over-police a peaceful demonstration.
The No Kings protest happened within shouting distance of the town’s only police station. We lined up along Trinity to trade cheers for honks with supportive motorists who drove by Ashley Pond. If we wanted less traffic, we could have moved across the park to Central. Because of the way our community is set up, we had safety and community handy right in the same beautiful spot.
A crosswalk across Trinity between Oppenheimer and 20th would certainly improve this setting, but I don’t blame LAPD for leaving the traffic situation status quo. The protest’s visibility would have suffered if traffic had been diverted or discouraged.
Proportionality is the first principle of policing demonstrations. I didn’t see so much as a near-miss with traffic, even though the wind blew a couple signs into the street. The man who tried to block traffic was chanted back into line and, thanks to the letter, I now understand his intentions. I think the zero police presence was proportional to the zero need.
Take the win, Los Alamos. No king; no mayor; we’re doing great.876