Sheriff's delicate occupation
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William Mullen -
Workers break down the Trojan Horse, made of lumber and pallets, which was a symbol of the last days of the Occupy Pittsburgh encampment Thursday on Mellon Green. The last of the protesters left Wednesday.
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As it became clear that members of Occupy Pittsburgh were not long for their encampment at Downtown's Mellon Green, Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen started planning for the worst.
He called police departments, watched videos and studied news reports from other cities where such evictions erupted in violence.
He sought the input of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and officials at the 911 center and drafted plans that could have had more than 100 deputies clearing the camp, some with patrol rifles in case protesters were armed.
But in the end, "we didn't have to do anything," the sheriff said. "I guess they kind of got bored with us and left."
Sheriff Mullen spoke for the first time Thursday about the extensive security measures he and his deputies were prepared to take if they needed to forcibly remove any remaining members of the group, which had been staying in the park owned by BNY Mellon since Oct. 15 in protest of corporate greed and other ills.
But protesters cleared out Wednesday night making his plans to enlist the help of city police officers and a hazardous materials team early Thursday morning unnecessary. Instead, about 60 deputies and a pair of bomb-sniffing dogs converged on the abandoned encampment just after 5:15 a.m. and found nothing but trash and rodents. There was no one to arrest. Crews quickly erected a fence around the green and BNY Mellon braced for a lengthy cleanup.
Demonstrations by offshoots of the Occupy Wall Street movement in other cities, such as Oakland, Calif., and Philadelphia, have resulted in mass arrests and violent clashes with police. But in Pittsburgh, there was no such confrontation, due in part to the sheriff's department's carefully timed approach.
"I didn't want to create a situation that occurred in so many other cities. I didn't want any of my people getting hurt. ... We had to err on the side of caution," Sheriff Mullen said. "We're scrutinized for this when things go wrong."
His department began strategizing protesters' removal as soon as court proceedings began in December to force them from the park. Deputies received guidance from the Allegheny County district attorney's office about what activities warranted criminal charges, took heed of "horror stories" from other cities and drew upon the experiences of local law enforcement during Pittsburgh's G-20 summit in 2009.
First Published February 10, 2012 12:00 am
