January 03, 2003
Of Police and Preachers
Joseph Rose, 'Street Beat' columnist for The Oregonian (whose columns do not appear to be listed in the directory of columnists), details an incident from the New Year's Eve festivities at Pioneer Courthouse Square, wherein several officers moved in towards some street preachers:
"Apparently, there isn't room for some kinds of free speech in this square," said Officer Daren Roeser, who stopped about 15 feet from one of the holy hollerers.
Roeser and Sgt. Neil Crannell explained that they were standing guard. Preachers in Portland's living room don't tend to get a lot of love from neighbors, which creates security problems at big events, the officers said. Instead of patrolling for serious threats to the crowd, whether it's violent drunks or terrorists, officers are diverted to provide a security detail for free speech.
Kudos to the police for actually protecting speech rights, and jeers to those few malcontents who always and inevitably refuse to accept the rights of anyone except themselves.