Is it appropriate to call upon riot police to solve the problem of a crowd of drunk and rowdy college kids? Not in my day.
Wheeler Street Block Party is an annual event near Western Illinois University where students join together to celebrate the end of the school year. The event has a reputation for students consuming large amounts of alcohol which has been increasingly embarrassing for the local community and the university. I hope that this example of force from the local authorities to solve this type of problem will not be acceptable in the future.
Interesting to note that Law Enforcement and Justice Administration program at WIU is the largest undergraduate law enforcement program in the region and the 4th largest in the nation.
Below is some documentation about the May 1, 2011 event.
Video Footage of the event - The Students Perspective
2011 Wheeler Block Party- -Riot Cops- -Fire- -Broken Bottles- -Mace
Wheeler Block Party 2011-WIU Riot Police Sound Cannon 2
Many more video uploads from the students. Some kids were obviously drunk and acting out. Not that unusual. My observation was that most of the kids had self control. Nothing seemed that alarming until the riot police took their positions.
thedirtywestern.blogspot.com
Anonymous said...
Im sure it wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't for the lockout of guests in all the dorms. Students were drunk and pissed off at the whole situation so they went wild. A freshman student stood with a peace sign at the swat team and got maced and thrown down, ended up with a bloody face, maced eyes, and tear gas burns. The swat team did nothing about the bike being burnt on the stop sign or the stop sign getting knocked over, they waited till it was over to clear evvverybody out with force. Why Not arrest the few idiots that are noticeably doing something wrong. Do your job as people of the law don't hurt/harm innocent sudents wit gases. Walking out of an apartment to see two men laying on the ground being cared for by ohter students was awful. The students were not the cause of violence or injury. They may have broke a few material objects but they did not physically harm other human beings.
Anonymous said...
It would not have gotten this rowdy and chaotic had law enforcement not jumped the gun so early in bringing out the riot team...truth is as soon as the riot team showed up they created a riot in their presence...yes students were out of control and i dont condone this behavior but it had not gotten out of hand till this happened...the increase in law enforcement actually made the block party much more rowdy than it was last year go figure that
Anonymous said...
What you can't see in these videos are the events that happened earlier in the day. The police actually made this even worse by harassing everybody. I have been at the wheeler block party 4 years in a row and the cops never acted like that before. They were tackling people for playing catch with a football in their yard at 12:00. They weren't drinking and it was there house. I saw a girl and her 4 month puppy both get maced in the face at 2. They got maced because a little lab puppy got too close to the officer and he said he felt "Threatened". The girl was 5'6 about 110 pounds, and a little 20 pound puppy. come on really? "threatened" that's a joke.
Stop blaming it all on the students, sure there were some people that were too drunk but when the police act like that and they are giving tickets to everybody for anything they can, macing or tackling people for getting too close. students see their friends get hurt or ticketed for nothing they are going to get upset.
With out even trying to get on a loud speaker and telling people to leave like last year, which people did when they asked. They call in the Riot squad? really? Again with out asking people to leave, they just start doing ridiculous things to anger people and cause a riot. this was the police's fault. nice job guys. way to protect and serve your country. Way to mace a girl and a puppy.
Anonymous said...
With the cops staying in that house on Albert and Adams, everyone there knew the cops were watching. The sign got torn down when all the cops who were on the street left to go to that house. Every one there also knew it was about to be broke up. Does that justify burning a stop sign? Absolutely not. I just want to provide some info here as watching a 5 minute video does not convey the atmosphere of the event. Big brother was always watching.
Anonymous said...
Ok.... It got a little out of hand, I'll agree. BUT, I think the students would of responded better if regular marked police officers(not riot control) tried to control the situation. I'll admit, I was there and situation was under control. They had cops in the streets pulling people out the crowd who were doing DUMB stuff. I left before the "riot" broke out. But trying to shut down party with thousands of people in attendance with riot control personnel, what do you expect would happen? They been drinking since 10AM! They should have restrained the people doing the destructive acts, kept the police presence, and let the party die on its own LIKE THE PAST TWO YEARS!!! The police only instigated the attendees to do MORE stupid acts. Spraying pepper spray and threatening people is not the way to control it.
Anonymous said...
The Police had everything in control. They had a heavy police presence and were pulling people out that were doing stupid stuff. But, the police decided to leave the scene for a while and thats when the situation got outta hand. Then they decided to bring in the riot brigade and end the party immediately. They expected 4,000 people, who have been drinking since they woke up that morning, to just pack up and leave.
Not going to happen! They handled it the wrong way. PERIOD!
Anonymous said...
here's my issue though: not EVERYONE at that event was wasted and being irresponsible. YES the fire-starters were idiots and should have been arrested. YES the bottle-throwers were in the wrong and should be punished. YES the police were needed. NO they did not handle the situation appropriately. everyone keeps assuming that the ~3,000 people there were all highly intoxicated. WRONG. PLENTY of people were completely sober just trying to enjoy the day. a few people and the police ruined it for everyone.
Anonymous said...
The pictures chosen for the Wheeler article show the students behaving badly..granted!!Where are the pictures of the cops using billy clubs on people or how about the 9 year old girl that was maced while holding her mothers hand walking out of her house? If you are going to put pictures in the paper defend both sides, you should be bipartisan anyway being that you are supposed to represent the university as a whole, so do us the students a favor, if you are going to report, do it correctly!!!
WIU parent wants answers after police use pepper spray
Here is parts of the report from the local authorities. I added the link to IL MFF.
Police disperse block party, write 104 citations
MACOMB, Ill. -- Macomb police said 104 citations were issued to 89 people during Saturday's "Wheeler Street Block Party."
Authorities say more than 3,000 people packed a three-block span for the party, an annual event to celebrate the end of the school year.
Police said fires were started, vandalism to property began taking place and action was taken by the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System Mobile Field Force, comprised of officers from throughout the state.
-Snip-
Goldfarb (WIU President Al Goldfarb) said students arrested will also face disciplinary action from the university.
"It is sad that those individuals have such little respect for themselves, their community and their university, and that they, along with visitors to this community, can tarnish Western Illinois University's reputation," Goldfarb said. "We will continue to work with our community and law enforcement to prevent events of this magnitude from happening again in the future."
Some key points that I find important. I suggest reading the entire report.
The Wheeler Street Riot By Michael Kleen
This past Saturday, police in full riot gear, armed with chemical irritants, pepper spray, batons, and a sound cannon, confronted hundreds of students at a block party on Wheeler Street near Western Illinois University. Gathered near their large, white van, officers from several different police forces around the state (who were formed into the “West Central Illinois Mobile Field Force”) waited as loudspeakers ordered the students to leave. “We are ordering you to disperse,” it said in an electronic tone. “Leave now or chemical munitions may be used.” The warning was followed by a piercing siren that reverberated across the garbage-strewn sidewalks and lawns.
-Snip-
Using the police to clear students off a street in order to protect the reputation of a public institution is a fraudulent use of force by anyone’s definition. More alarming still is the application of tactics and weapons designed to deal with full-scale riots against unarmed students, many of whom were, at most, guilty of nothing more than public intoxication.
The Wheeler Street Riot illustrates the consequences of the growing militarization of police, the targeting of groups rather than individuals, and the need for justification of increased spending on law enforcement agencies. By treating all students at the block party as though they were complicit in the handful of criminal acts, the police crossed a line from protecting public safety and private property to committing open and unjustifiable aggression against a crowd. Aggression is wrong, whether it is carried out by a civilian or an officer of the law. Unfortunately, these abuses have become increasingly frequent in the past decade, and every effort should be made to scale back and restrain the institutions that lead to such abuses of power, as well as educate the public on their constitutional rights.
Some of the witnesses complained that they were told that it was illegal to video record what was happening.
ACLU seeks end to prosecutions for recording public conversations with police
CHICAGO – Responding to a series of incidents in which individuals in four counties in Illinois have been charged with violating Illinois’ eavesdropping law for making audio recordings of public conversations with police, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois today asked a federal court to rule that the First Amendment bans such prosecutions. The ACLU lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Chicago, argues that individuals (and organizations such as the ACLU) may make audio (and video) recordings of police who are performing their public duties in a public place and speaking in a voice loud enough to be heard by the unassisted human ear.
The case is of particular import because the law is being used to arrest and prosecute those who want to monitor police activity in order to deter or detect any police misconduct. In Champaign a few years ago, for example, a group of community activists attempting to document police practices in predominantly African American neighborhoods were charged with violating the Illinois eavesdropping law when they filmed and recorded police interactions with citizens in the public way. (The charges were dropped only after the installation of a new states attorney.) In Chicago, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez currently is prosecuting an individual for violating the eavesdropping statute by recording police officers.
Illinois’ eavesdropping law criminalizes the recording of certain non-private conversations, one of a small handful of states that does so. Similar prosecutions have occurred in other states, including Massachusetts and Maryland. Yet even as the Illinois law criminalizes civilians who audio record police, the law allows police to audio record civilians during traffic stops and in other situations.
Facebook being used by Macomb Police Department
Suspects in Wheeler Street Block Party
RTR.org interview with a student.
BREAKING ALERT: Mass Arrests, Tear Gas, Sound Weapons used Against WIU Students
WIU Rally in the Quad
Time: Thursday, May 5 · 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: Western Illinois University Campus Quad near the Union and the Library
Created By: WIU Young Americans for Liberty
Join your fellow students in a demonstration against the excessive police force as well as the unruly behavior by certain students displayed at the Wheeler Block Party!
-Voice your opinion!
-Give your Testimony!
-Speak out against excessive police force!
The events that took place this past weekend should not be allowed to go unchallenged. Let us send a clear message to the University and the police agencies, that we will not sit idly by while our rights are trampled.
Many people were arrested on saturday...some deserved it, MANY did not.