Sheriff promises police state for RNC event: “There will be arrests”
The Hillborough Sheriff has made it clear that not only will the RNC event be a mini-police state, but that he has already determined to arrest some people (and to think that we thought arrests were made only after the fact of an actual crime!). The Sheriff’s website says,
The RNC demands thousands of law enforcement officers to converge on downtown Tampa for a 24-hour-a-day presence. Some will be assigned special security details. Some will be responsible for getting the scores of buses and vehicles with delegates and VIPs to and from the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Some will be on the street. Some won’t be seen but poised to respond quickly and appropriately to a security situation. All of these law enforcement officers – some deputies, some police, some state troopers, some federal and state agents – will have to perform as a unified, cohesive unit.
Calling his planned police-state a “special time for local civil pride,” he warns: “To the agitators and anarchists who want only to bring a dark cloud to this event, let me be clear: criminal activity and civil disturbances will not be tolerated and enforcement actions will be swift.”
Then comes the promise:
There will be arrests. The question is how many. We are prepared to handle any number of RNC-related arrests through our Orient Road Jail.
The liberal hack website ThinkProgress.org noted just exactly why they are prepared to handle “any number”:
To prepare, Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee has ordered the Orient Road Jail, a 1,700 bed prison in Tampa, emptied, relocating some inmates to another nearby prison and releasing others on bond. The entire facility has been transformed into a one-stop booking, detention, and bond-issuance center capable of handling large numbers of arrests, which begs the question: will Tampa police keep demonstrators on a short leash?
So be forewarned, whether you’re from a “anarchist” group, or perhaps even legitimate TEA party or Ron Paul liberty movement dissenters, if you “disturb” the planned Romney coronation ceremony, you will be swiftly arrested an thrown in jail.