At least one person was taken into custody Wednesday night as protesters with the weekly #miccheckwallst march against student debt blocked traffic on Broadway despite police demands that the group return to the sidewalk. Thanks to Geoff for the picture and his notes from the scene.
there was a protest going south on Broadway East. Looks like it started around Broadway E and roy? They were against crippling student loan debt. They were first walking in the middle of the road. Some signs said “student loans kill dreams”. The police told them to get to the sidewalk several times. They continued walking in the road. At the intersection of Mercer and Broadway E, a cop turned in front of the crowd, partially cutting off their path on the road. Police then walked towards the protesters directing them to the sidewalk. A couple refused and were arrested. After the suspects were taken away in police cars, the protest continued south on the sidewalk.
We’re checking to find out more about how many people were taken into custody. #miccheckwallst is an Occupy Seattle offshoot and is active with protests and demonstrations on Capitol Hill and elsewhere in the city.
Following the arrest, the group continued to the East Precinct headquarters at 12th and Pine to demonstrate the SPD actions.
Did somebody photoshop that picture to look like the cop is mooning us?
Phil, I am glad to be corrected on this issue, but I wonder about your source for your data. Specifically, are the figures “gross salary,” or do they also include benefits such as medical insurance, pension contributions, etc? The latter can greatly increase the “total pay” over the basic salary, and can be misleading as to what a person’s actual take-home pay is.
Congratulations to you, Highside, for planning your education wisely and being willing to finance it yourself. I think many young people could also go this route, at least for less expensive places like Community College, except that they are too lazy to go out and get a part-time job while they are attending school….”I’ll just get a student loan and maybe won’t have to ever pay it back” kind of mentality. It’s a lot easier to just take a class or two a day, and then hang out the rest of the time….I see alot of young people on Capitol Hill who seem to be doing just that.
I found some of the comments to this news piece so shocking yesterday that my own reactions and comments weren’t as clear as I would have liked. I apologize for that. I’ve lived on Capitol Hill since 1974. I’ve seen a lot of changes and I’ve seen a lot of things come and go. I don’t feel that just because I’ve lived here longer than some other people that that gives me any special bragging rights, but I do believe I have a good perspective of what goes on in my neighborhood. I’ve seen many protests and been involved in some. I was living here (off Cal Anderson Park) during WTO in ’99. That was the only time I can think of in the almost 40 years I’ve lived here when I was genuinely afraid to go outside, and that fear only lasted for a couple of hours, and that fear was caused by the fact that SPD vans were driving through my neighborhood shooting pepper spray at anyone on the streets. I didn’t have any issue with Occupy on the SCCC campus, but I did recognize that the bad weather conditions and lack of support from the school administration made that situation untenable. But still, damn proud of everyone who took part, and I never got to hear anyone who boo-hoo’d about how the hippies had ruined the grass at SCCC eat their words when that site was cleaned up better than it had been found. “The kids are alright.” Stop being afraid and join them. Some of them are old ladies just like me.
Bob: The figures are gross pay — the amount of money we gave them in 2009, some of which they were required to pay to our government. I didn’t gather this information myself, but I have absolute trust that my friend who did gather it was meticulous in doing so. He’s very familiar with SPD, with prying records out of them, and with use of spreadsheets.
I say with great confidence that most Seattle police officers — not just upper management, but regular cops — are paid more than $100,000 per year. Base pay for a new hire is around $65,000. Among the people who employ those police, the median income is about $38,000 and the per-capita income is about $30,000. The least experienced cop on the force is paid nearly double that of the average person he or she is hired to serve and to protect.
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2012/06/22/pike-pine-digit
@ Ocelot
Remind me to De-Arrest myself for hitting you because you annoy the shit out of me. Break the law, and get arrested. Don’t think that you can somehow pull people away from the police and physically confront them and they’ll just keep backing down. I get that it sucks that you’re not spoiled by mommy any more, and I get that the economic structure of the United States is FUCKED, and does its best to discourage education and proliferate rich conservative economics, but still. Man the fuck up.
OK, Phil, I accept your data and stand corrected. But I would also add that a police officer’s job is very dangerous and challenging, and I think they deserve $65,000 a year to start.
A police officer’s job is somewhat dangerous. This 2011 CNN Money article ranks it as #10 among dangerous jobs in the United States. That list, from most dangerous to least, is:
fisherman – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 116; Median wage: $27,880
logger – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 92; Median wage: $38,660
airplane pilot – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 71; Median wage: $115,300
farmer/rancher – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 41; Median wage: $65,960
mining machine operator – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 39; Median wage: $39,950
roofer – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 32; Median wage: $37,880
sanitation worker – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 30; Median wage: $34,310
delivery truck driver – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 22; Median wage: $35,500
industrial machine repairman – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 20; Median wage: $45,700
police officer – Fatality rate per 100,000 workers: 18; Median wage: $55,620
This New York Times article citing a 2010 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows similar information.
And again: Seattle police officers engaging in violence against peaceful demonstrators make the job more dangerous for their colleagues. More peacekeeping and less skull-cracking on the part of police would go a long way toward making everyone — police and people with other jobs — safer.