The Tattler Editorial Board condemns all forms of police brutality; in particular, we condemn the recent actions of the Ithaca Police Department.
On October 22, a peaceful protestor was arrested by the Ithaca Police for harassment after banging on the door of the Tompkins County Republicans storefront at a Tom Reed rally. At the scene, IPD notably failed to reprimand a Trump supporter who had been verbally attacking the protestor and threatening him with a knife. The arrest sparked outrage among his fellow counter-protestors, who marched up to the police station to demand his release. There, two more protestors were taken into custody, one for obstructing governmental administration and another for resisting arrest. One of these protestors says he was neither read his Miranda rights nor told the reason for his arrest when he asked, and was thrown to the ground by four cops.
A group of mostly minors and young adults joined the crowd around IPD and demanded that those arrested be freed. Shortly afterward, two protestors were released, but the original was held in custody for hours and reports being repeatedly misgendered by the police officers.
Later that night, the Ithaca Police Department declared the peaceful protest an “unlawful assembly.” They forcibly arrested three more protestors and pepper sprayed many others. An IHS student present at the scene reports:
We moved together in a huddle off the street to shield ourselves, and the cops started yanking people out of the crowd and arresting them. I saw multiple kids thrown onto the ground, and saw a cop grab a girl by the neck and shove her onto the ground. Most of the police were super rough with people half their size. We stayed linked together but were backing up and a cop pepper sprayed all along the front line of people. I’m not sure if anyone got arrested after because I couldn’t see from the pepper spray.
The events of late October are just the most recent example of Ithaca’s long history of racist police attacks, which are not to be tolerated any longer. We stand with those organizing for racial justice despite opposition from local leadership. Contrary to the 2021 IPD budget recently confirmed by Common Council, which will fund the hiring of two more officers, The Tattler board has reached a consensus in favor of divestment. The reduction and redistribution of IPD funds, as advocated by the Tompkins Antiracist Coalition, is the most appropriate response to the police department’s harmful impact on the Ithaca community.