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Police Show of Force, 18 Months of Planning Prevented Major Disruptions During GOP Convention

By Sara Kugler, The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) -- With an unprecedented show of force that included crowd-control tools such as plastic netting and concrete barriers, police managed to prevented major disruptions during the Republican National Convention. But they were also accused of heavy-handed tactics.

More than 1,800 protesters were arrested over five days.

“We have every reason to be proud,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday. “The NYPD did a great job.”

Some protesters also called the week a success.

“We’re all mad, we all had that one message, and it really worked,” said Jennifer Flynn, who helped organize a march and rally on Monday on behalf of the poor.

For 18 months, the 36,500-member New York Police Department had planned a “rapid response” strategy to dispatch teams of officers on scooters, bicycles, horseback and foot throughout the city as demonstrations erupted.

But the police also showed flexibility: In several cases, groups that threatened to march without permits, risking arrests and confrontations with officers, were allowed to do so after last-minute negotiations with police eager to avoid conflict.

Civil liberties groups and protesters accused police of making sweeping arrests too quickly and of detaining prisoners too long. The New York Civil Liberties Union said Friday that some protesters will probably sue over how they were treated.

On Thursday, the city waged a court battle with the protesters’ lawyers over how long hundreds of them were being held.

Some protesters spent almost three days in lockups, and city officials blamed delays on the sheer number of arrests. Lawyers for the protesters alleged that people were locked up to keep them off the streets during President Bush’s speech, a charge the police department denied.

But all of the protesters -- except six who were arrested on the convention floor -- were freed by late Thursday after a judge ordered their release and threatened to impose a fine of $1,000 for every protester held past his 5 p.m. deadline.