Ramsey Memo Acknowledges Protesters Weren't Warned
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 13, 2003; Page B02

An internal police investigation into the roundup of protesters and
bystanders at a downtown Washington park last September found that all 400
people were wrongfully arrested.
The internal report, released yesterday by order of a federal judge, also
said that a federal police official on the scene had earlier warned D.C.
police that the mass arrests would be improper.
The report revealed significant contradictions between what top city
officials have said publicly about the controversial Sept. 27, 2002, arrests
at Pershing Park and what they knew privately about the tightly held
investigative findings.
In a confidential memo to Mayor Anthony A. Williams in March, D.C. Police
Chief Charles H. Ramsey acknowledged that his assistant chief ordered
arrests of everyone in the police-cordoned park -- without giving an order
for protesters to disperse -- and that police had blocked people who wished
to leave.
Apprehending people in the crowd for failing to obey police, Ramsey wrote,
was a violation of police procedures requiring that officers see a crime
committed before making an arrest and a violation of the department's
protest handbook. His memo was included as an addendum to the report.
"This failure will not occur again, as we have taken steps to ensure
warnings are given and adequate time provided to leave the area for those
wishing to avoid arrest," the chief wrote to the mayor March 13.
The arrests at the federal park, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
came during a tense weekend of anti-globalization and antiwar
demonstrations. The incident has led to a D.C. Council investigation and
four lawsuits filed by people who say their civil liberties were violated by
police.
Months ago, Williams (D) was urged by council member Kathy Patterson (D-Ward
3) to make the report public. But he did so only after U.S. District Judge
Emmet G. Sullivan ordered him to turn it over to the court and to attorneys
pursuing the federal lawsuits.
Ramsey has been quoted in numerous media reports as saying the department
has nothing to apologize for regarding its actions. He has said he believed
that police gave sufficient warning and had sufficient reason to make the
arrests. Williams initially commended Ramsey for his handling of the
protests, but on Thursday he said that the arrests were flawed and that
there are "lessons to be learned."
Yesterday, Ramsey said he wished that warnings had been properly given to
the crowd and regretted it if people who committed no violations were swept
into the police's attempt to control those intent on disrupting the city.
"There are some things at Pershing Park that we could have done better," he
said. "Any person who wasn't involved in any infraction of the law, it's
unfortunate if any of these people were caught up in this."
The internal investigation found that Assistant Chief Peter Newsham was the
senior officer in charge of the Pershing Park area on the first day of
protests against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. As
demonstrators moved along Pennsylvania Avenue and entered the park, Newsham
gave the order for dozens of officers to surround the park and arrest
everyone inside on a charge of failing to obey a police order.
Newsham oversees the department's Office of Professional Responsibility that
conducted the internal investigation, but he did not work on the probe.
He told investigators that he had seen several protesters turning over
newspaper stands and ignoring officers' orders to stay on sidewalks the
morning of Sept. 27. He explained that he decided to use the park as a
roadblock for arresting lawbreakers but gave no order for people to leave
it. He said he thought earlier warnings for people to stay on the sidewalks
were sufficient.
The report also noted that Capt. Rick Murphy of the U.S. Park Police told
Newsham before the arrests that they were ill-advised and that he could not
allow his officers to participate. Murphy said that because police had not
instructed protesters to disperse, the mass arrests violated procedures.
However, Murphy told investigators he did agree to have his officers help
Newsham's D.C. officers surround the park and prevent anyone from leaving
it.
In his memo to the mayor, Ramsey also concluded that no police officers
should be disciplined because of the "good faith" errors during
"quickly-evolving" events.
But throughout the spring and summer, top mayoral aides have said that they
could not release the report because it contained sensitive information
relating to police officials who had been disciplined. The report does not
contain any information on disciplinary actions.
Two sources close to the investigation said that the mayor overruled the
chief's March recommendation and that Newsham was given a minor reprimand.
Ramsey and Newsham would not comment yesterday.
Patterson, who released a synopsis of the report in February, said that if
the city had acknowledged mistakes sooner, it might not be defending itself
in four lawsuits. "Now we taxpayers are going to have to pay for it
instead," she said.

2003 The Washington Post 

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