Watch CBS News

Police Commissioner Rejects Report Promising No Arrests At DNC

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross dismissed a report that said there would be no arrests of protesters at the Democrat National Convention, but did add there will not as many as there was in 2000 when the Republicans held their convention in the city.

Talking with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, Ross stated that while the police presence will be much more restrained, they will still do their job.

 

"Times are changing. I don't know that I agree completely that there won't be arrests made. I think what we're going to try to do is not engage unnecessarily. But, to be honest with you, we expect that there will be arrests. It's just going to be a question of how many and how we go about doing it. I think it's unreasonable to think at a national protest that you won't have any arrests. We just don't want to engage in the way we did in the RNC and it's, pretty much, as simple as that."

He added protesters will have room to get there message across, which may end up at times disrupting traffic.

"Sometimes, we do just have to take a stance where it's just simply not worth it when you balance it all out. It's easy to say let's just arrest everybody who blocks the street. But sometimes, you've seen some protests in the last year or so when we would not even have the capacity, it we wanted to, to arrest two or three thousand people that took the street. It just wouldn't happen anyway."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.