I don't want to be scared of the cops, but....

I have never been arrested.  I have all sorts of white, educated, middle-class privilege going on. 

In my life my tendency is to say "Yes" and then figure out if whatever has been asked is possible or reasonable.  This becomes a problematic reaction when you are protesting and there are cops around. The cops will always ask you to stop doing whatever protest you are doing - even when they have no idea what law you are breaking.  If you say "yes" they have won.  But when you say "no" you are risking being arrested. Even when the cops have not mentioned arrest it is a possibility. 

We are protesting in Occupy Austin to remind people that we are a free country.  The complaisance and control that we live under are not "just the way it is".  We have the right, and I daresay, the responsibility to stand up to those that are telling us that we must just put up with destruction of entire planet, increasing poverty, especially among communities of color, attack's on women's rights and the millions that die every day simply because they do not have enough to eat.  Injustice is not "just the way it is".  Injustice is created by humans and justice can be fought for and won by these same humans.  

Yesterday some of formed a somewhat amiable relationship with an Austin Police Department (APD) Officer.  He gave us a "head's up" about a new policy that APD is enforcing.  He referred to it as "Zero Tolerance."  News reports have called it the Public Order Initiative. (You can see one here and other one here).  Last weekend, under this new initiative, APD arrested more than three times the number of homeless people they normally arrest every weekend.  300 of my brothers and sisters spent a night in jail last weekend because they broke a city ordinance which would normally be ticketable, but because of this policy it resulted in them being hauled off to jail. 

It is not clear why APD has started this policy.  Currently in Austin most of the homeless services are downtown - which is also a large scene of night life in Austin.  There are two big events coming up Austin City Limits music festival and the brand new Formula One Race track that will be holding the US Grand Prix in November.  

How can I respond to APD officers that might arrest me if I'm standing in the street instead of on the sidewalk? On a side note, this was the actual example used by the APD officer when he explained how the new policy works. 

I also want to know why the APD won't let us open up our own Tent City since they seem hell bent on getting the homeless out of downtown.  I guess we'll see how it goes tonight.  I'm legitimately scared that I will be arrested for something as minor as jaywalking.  I'm scared of cops now, because I see that sometimes they are enforcing laws designed to oppress us rather than laws to protect us.