Read This Before You Protest: An Open Letter to Occupy Portland from a Public Defender

Portland Mercury:

Local public defender Chris O'Connor is in the pages of the Mercury every week, it feels like, for stepping up to help protect the civil rights of some poor soul or another. I realize this guest blog post about what to expect at Occupy Portland today—and the crimes you're most likely to be arrested for—is too long for many internet attention spans, but it's so interesting and worthwhile that I didn't want to cut it down. Listen up! Dear Occupy Portland: I don’t disagree with many of your goals and aims. I think that the banks and large corporations and mortgage fraudsters that made a killing off the crash need a few less bailouts and a few more criminal charges to thin out their ranks. But I am nothing if not a realistic and practical person. I want you to temper your idealism and righteous rage with a nice slap of reality.  So if, in fact, you gather enough people and present your version of Tahrir on the Willamette, things are going to get bad. And I want to give you a heads up about some things you may not have been thinking about.   So you want to occupy Portland. Or at least a portion of the waterfront. Or the sidewalks outside of a park. Whatever. Give ‘em hell.  Protester gotta protest and public defender gotta eat. Unfortunately, I think the lawyers will be eating well after all this, and there is a high chance that you will be enjoying some of the fine meals at the county jail. I don’t say this to be mean, anti-democratic, or because I want you to suffer. I say this for two sets of reasons: The first set of reasons is practical, and it has to do with a realistic view of the Portland Police and their relative freedom to beat the crap out of you. The second is legal and focuses on the many many legal tools the city council and state legislature have given to the local ‘peace’ officers.  Both need to be on your mind if you are planning on hanging out under the Burnside Bridge or setting up a tent city in a public park for the next few nights. Part One: A) It Is Going To Hurt. B) Jail Deputies Will Be Looking In Your Ass. C) No one will care.
You need to be 100 percent realistic about the fact that getting arrested going to hurt. [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

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