Aug 16, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
(BIG GOVERNMENT) Jails in Mecklenburg, North Carolina plan to boost staffing in advance of the Democratic National Convention which takes place in Charlotte, NC at the beginning of next month. Officials plan to increase staff by about 30 percent to handle the expected influx of protesters.
Authorities anticipate as many as 10,000 protests could descend on the city in a few weeks. Sgt. Stephen Morin tells the Charlotte Observer “We’re hearing from a lot of outside people that are telling us to expect the perfect storm of angry people. Some of them are going to want to get some street credit by getting arrested.”
So-called “arrestables” have been a staple of the Occupy movement which set up special websites and Twitter accounts to keep track of arrests nationwide. As of last week, the total connected to the groups activities is 7,387.
Police are said to be exercising “high tolerance” for protest behavior, which apparently means that anything short of violence toward people and property will not automatically result in an arrest, though it may lead to a citation. Police are promising plenty of manpower to make arrests if it becomes necessary.
