Left News and Views

The Denver Police could not have meant to reinforce the image of police officers as bully boys for the government with this shirt could they?

I can see the tongue-in-cheek humor, but really, was this the wisest thing to do in today’s political climate? Probably not. It seems to have caused a fair bit of uproar on the net.

From The Colorado Independent:

By Ernest Luning 9/25/08 5:08 PM

Protest groups are demanding Denver police halt the sale and discipline anyone responsible for the creation of a “commemorative” DNC T-shirt distributed to officers featuring a baseball-bat wielding cop and the slogan “WE GET UP EARLY to BEAT the Crowds 2008 DNC.”

The black T-shirt — which also displays a 68 with a slash through it, a reference to demonstrators’ intentions to bring the spirit of the 1968 Democratic National Convention to Denver — has been available for sale since the week after the convention at the office of the Denver Police Protective Association, a union representing most of Denver’s 1,400 police officers, according to DPPA employees.

What does this say about our police officers?

They have a dark sense of humor?

Brian Maass,CBS4 NEWS, over at Rocky Mountain News says this about it:

A tongue-in-cheek T-shirt poking fun at Democratic National Convention protesters is selling fast and creating some minor controversy along the way.

The shirts were created and distributed by the Denver Police Protective Association, the union that represents most of Denver’s 1,400 police officers.

…

The Denver police detective who produced the shirts, Nick Rogers, says he has received no complaints until now. He said the shirts are being sold for $10 each at the Police Protective Association offices.

He said every Denver police officer was given one.

There’s more to the story though, as I found out over from Michael Roberts at The Latest Word:

This graphic can’t help but recall flyers that juxtaposed a riot-gear-clad policeman and the slogan “WE BEAT YOU THEN! WE’LL BEAT YOU AGAIN,” which appeared prior to the DNC. Those, too, referenced Re-create 68, and the group’s reps suspected the Denver Police of being behind them — at least until Westword reported that an artist who later revealed himself to be Pete Bergman had created them as a combination art project and media prank.

Predictably, the Re-create 68 forces don’t find this coincidence to be amusing.

…

Here’s the flyer:

I can see how someone might see that as offensive.

However, I can see how the police might be offended by the whole re-create 68 movement. Considering the violence of the 1968 convention.

I don’t believe provoking unneccessary violence is ever a good idea.