A Cal Poly protest drew maybe 30 people. It didn’t require the riot squad | Opinion

If image is everything, then the one that emerged from pro-Palestine protesters blocking an entrance to Cal Poly was discouraging and not something we want to see on the streets of San Luis Obispo.

Not because around 30 demonstrators gathered to protest an impassioned issue. Not because they shut down an intersection. Not even because several of them had to be arrested to clear the area.

But because it somehow required a phalanx of sheriff’s deputies in riot gear to do it.

That was the scene at the corner of California and Foothill boulevards, where protesters gathered the morning of May 23 to oppose the attacks on Gaza and to pressure the university to divest from companies that support and profit from the war.

Compared to the mass protests at other college campuses, it was a tame affair.

Yet because a handful of activists stopped traffic with makeshift barricades, it was declared an illegal gathering and an order to disperse was issued.

Two protesters who chained themselves to the barricades were forcibly removed. A total of eight participants were arrested. It was all over within a few hours.

Sheriff’s Office: Riot gear is ‘standard equipment’

At no point was there any hint the gathering would turn violent, yet law enforcement turned out in force. According to a report in Mustang News, the incident began with only eight protesters — and around eight campus police officers, for a one-to-one ratio.

Later, San Luis Obispo police officers, CHP officers and sheriff’s deputies were called in as backup.

However, none of the SLOPD officers wore riot gear. None of the Cal Poly police officers armored up. None of the CHP officers did either.

The sheriff’s deputies, however, arrived suited up in helmets, face shields and vests — a show of force that raises the question: Were they there to keep the peace or to intimidate?

The Sheriff’s Office offered this explanation: “The protest involved an unknown number of individuals and was near the railroad tracks,” spokesman Tony Cipolla wrote in an email to The Tribune. “The railroad tracks contain numerous rocks that can be used as projectiles against law enforcement.”

What malarkey.

This was not an angry mob of students looking to hurl “projectiles” at police. It was nothing more than a small group of individuals hoping to make a statement by chanting, holding up signs and disrupting morning traffic.

Cipolla said the deputies were part of the mutual aid public safety team who were deployed at the request of Cal Poly, and that the gear they wore is standard equipment.

Yes, standard equipment for a time that has past.

We don’t need a riot squad to disperse a peaceful protest. We don’t want to see clashes between law enforcement and citizens on our streets.

‘The university is not a political body’

For its part, the university administration said the protest posed safety concerns that “forced” law enforcement to make arrests and remove individuals from the intersection.

“Cal Poly supports lawful protests and demonstrations but will not tolerate illegal activity,” Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier wrote in the email.

The administration also issued a policy statement in response to calls for divestiture.

“The role of the university is to serve as a content-neutral space for the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and discourse; the university is not a political body, and its role is not to create public policy and foreign affairs strategies,” Lazier wrote.

Cal Poly may not consider itself a “political body,” but students are political beings.

Especially at this stage in their lives, they not only want to express their beliefs, they also want to act upon them. Sometimes that includes acts of civil disobedience, but assuming that all hell will break loose is an overreaction.

Over-policing can make matters worse

Cal Poly is not UCLA, Columbia University or even Humboldt State, and applying strong-arm tactics based on what happens elsewhere is unnecessary and even dangerous. Over-policing can exacerbate a situation and incite the violence law enforcement is hoping to avoid.

In the wake of Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 where tear gas was deployed against SLO protesters, many law enforcement agencies — including the San Luis Obispo Police Department — revamped their practices for dealing with demonstrations.

Now, those typically emphasize de-escalation, lowering the temperature of any potentially volatile crowd and using caution when choosing to deploy officers in riot gear.

Edward Maguire, an Arizona State University criminology professor, suggests using a “graded response” that ramps up as the need arises.

“In a graded response, tactical assets are staged nearby but out of sight and can be deployed rapidly if needed,” he told The Cap Times, a Madison, Wisconsin, newspaper. “If they are visible to the crowd, instead of enhancing officer safety, they may place officers at greater risk by escalating matters.”

So that means, if someone actually thinks cops need to outnumber the protesters, at the very least, keep the gear stashed in the trunk and only bring it out if it’s absolutely necessary.

With that in mind, we strongly urge the Sheriff’s Office to update its response plan for public protests like this. It seems every other local agency has, and it shouldn’t be too much to ask that everyone be on the same page.

Because calling out the riot squad should be among the last — rather than the first — resorts.