Critic defends letter chastising Seattle police for May Day tactics

The Community Police Commission is sticking with its opinion that some of the tactics used by Seattle police during protests go too far.

Lisa Daugaard, co-chair of the Community Police Commission, told KIRO Radio’s Jason Rantz that Seattle law enforcement could have handled May Day, and past demonstrations, better.

Related: Seattle police chief responds to criticism over May Day actions

For example, during the May Day protest: “It is clear people being [pepper] sprayed are not attacking anybody,” she told Rantz.

The Community Police Commission wrote a letter to Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole, which included six main points of how protests are handled and what can be done to avoid conflict and mistrust in the future.

The commission concluded the police restricted marchers from going to their intended downtown destination during May Day; instead forcing them to Capitol Hill.

“The police, in some instances, appear to have precluded people from heading in a particular direction,” Daugaard said.

According to the letter, protesters were “herded.”

The commission wrote that police were targeting the “leaders” of the protest, just for leading the march.

There were also disparate responses to demonstrators, according to the commission. Some reports have mentioned that while white demonstrators were intentionally blocking traffic and nothing was being done, other people “who were doing nothing except walking … were blocked, removed, or sprayed with pepper spray.”

But Rantz worries that the letter is in support of protesters and legitimizes concerns of anti-police activists.

“You’re giving more ammunition to people,” Rantz told Daugaard.

However, Daugaard, said the letter is not about taking sides. It is a way to start a conversation about police tactics. Whether something done during May Day and other protests in the past were justified or not, that is not the purpose of the letter.

“We are not finding fault, we are flagging issues we felt would benefit from further discussion,” she added.