How Has the City of Berkeley Police Department Responded to Occupy Berkeley?

Answers by Sgt. Mary C. Kusmiss, BPD Public Information Officer.

Q. How BPD is monitoring/dealing with Occupy Berkeley?   

A. Since the Occupy Berkeley Gathering developed, officers from the City of Berkeley Police Department (BPD) have focused attention on it. It is a gathering of individuals in our jurisdiction and within one of our beats, thus officers have become familiar with a peripheral sense of daily life there. Members of BPD have a responsibility to manage public safety and keep the peace throughout the city, thus the gathering in Civic Center Park has become part of our overall mission. Officers began regularly monitoring the park for public safety, community and participant safety. The beat officers do walk through the park daily walk when they are able and as security checks. The officers engage some of the participants and generally make their presence known. Members of BPD have the entire City of Berkeley to care for, special projects to conduct and community members from the hills to the flats to serve, hence the Occupy Gathering is a just one of our many current policing priorities.

Our few BPD bike officers have been tasked with coming to downtown and around Berkeley High School during the lunch period for extra attention to the area so they, too, patrol the park/gathering and look for any criminal activity or unsafe conditions.

The BPD thought it prudent to start maintaining a list of calls for police services at the Occupy Berkeley Gathering as we knew that at some point it was likely someone would request the information. As we have shared in recent weeks, BPD officers conduct daily checks and monitor the site for community/public safety and participant safety. There have been 23 reported calls for BPD services related to the Occupy Berkeley Gathering since October 23, 2011, 15 of which can be classified as crimes, although in some of the crime cases, victims did not wish to cooperate.

As in any large gathering of people, BPD believes that there are crimes and other incidents that go unreported, thus are not documented. We also base this on some of the entries in the list that indicate that victims and/or witnesses made the choice not to cooperate or support BPD in the investigations. There has been anincrease in calls for police services in the last week or so. That is a concern and we will continue to monitor and patrol and attempt to deter activity, if we are able, and of course respond to and manage incidents when they occur there.

Here is a sampling of calls received for BPD Services to Occupy Berkeley:

10/23/11  – Battery.  Did not wish police services

10/24/11 – Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Brandishing a stick, threats, battery.
10/25/11 – Threats, Vandalism 

10/25/11 – Mental Health Related

11/3/11  – Animal Bite

11/27/11 – Brandishing a Firearm, Battery.The victim, a camper at the Occupy Berkeley gathering reported his tent had been torn down and urinated on earlier in the day.  Someone in the camp pointed out the individual who was responsible to the victim and the victim confronted him about the incident.  The victim told the suspect to leave the park.  The suspect pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the victim.  The suspect’s friends surrounded the victim and one of them struck him over the head several times with a blunt object causing an injury to his head.

12/03/11 – Battery. BPD Officers responded to a report of a fight in progress in the area of the Occupy Berkeley gathering.  When BPD officers arrived, the individuals still fighting, but separated and one party fled the scene.  The other party declined any police service.  Many people witnessed the fight, but no one chose to cooperate with the BPD officers regarding the incident.

12/05/11 – Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Battery, Criminal Threats. Victim was accosted by the Suspect in Civic Center Park (they have had ongoing problems).  Suspect ‘sucker-punched’ the victim, knocking him to the ground, began making threats, and subsequently began strangling the victim until he could not breathe.  Bystanders pulled the suspect off the victim.  The suspect then attacked the victim again, striking him in the head.  The suspect was arrested.

12/06/11 – Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Possession of Methamphetamine, Probation Violation. An unknown party called the police to report an assault via a two-by-four piece of lumber at the Occupy Gathering in Civic Center Park.  BPD Officers arrived and located the victim, who had a large abrasion on his forehead.  The suspect was detained and positively identified.  The suspect had methamphetamine in his possession and is active to probation for possession of methamphetamine.

Submitted by Sgt. Mary Kusmiss, BPD