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Military Police at the Kentucky Derby

A Google News search does not produce a story or even a brief mention of the fact military police were on hand at the Kentucky Derby to keep restless plebs in line. However, an Associated Press photograph, posted on the Yahoo! News website, shows two MPs in combat fatigues with side arms restraining a man at the derby.

	Military police detain a fan who ran onto the track following the running of the 135th Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 2, 2009, in Louisville, Ky.

“Military police detain a fan who ran onto the track following the running of the 135th Kentucky Derby horse race at Churchill Downs Saturday, May 2, 2009, in Louisville, Ky.,” the photo caption reads.

The photo was also included in a slideshow on the Yahoo! Sports website, although the text of the article does not contain a mention of military police at the event.

“The military has NO BUSINESS policing the citizens except during extraordinarily exceptional times of national emergency by an executive order. This is very disturbing and completely un-American. Maybe even more disturbing is that no one seems to care how quietly and easily we have accepted the burgeoning police state,” an article comment states.

Infowars has reported on numerous instances of military involvement with local law enforcement in violation of Posse Comitatus. In March, we reported on U.S. Army troops dispatched to patrol the streets of Samson, Alabam....

On April 6, we reported on a DHS, federal, state, Air Force, and local law enforcement checkpoin.... On April 3, Infowars was instrumental in the cancellation of a seatbelt checkpoint that was to be conducted in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and the 251st Military Police in Bolivar, Tennessee.

Last December, we reported on the Marine Corps Air and Ground Combat Center dispatching troops to work with police on checkpoints in in San Bernardino County, California.

On Aprill 22, we reported the deployment of 400 National Guard Combat Support Battalion troops to “maintain public order” at the Boston Marathon.

Last June, Infowars posted an article by D. H. Williams of the Daily Newscaster reporting the deployment of 2,300 Marines in the city of Indianapolis under the direction of FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Prison Planet’s Paul Joseph Watson reported a story on April 22 covering the assault of a local television news team by an irate police officer in El Paso, Texas. A video taken by the news videographer shows uniformed soldiers working with police officers at the scene of a car accident.

The presence of uniformed and armed military police at the Kentucky Derby is part of an ongoing.

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Riding in the back seat of a Louisville Metro Police squad car, your intrepid and busted City Hall Examiner looked longingly out the window at Churchill Downs’ fabled twin spires, as we were physically and unceremoniously removed from the track premises by an LMPD officer. But more on that later.

Louisville police were among the 1000 or so law-enforcement officers providing security at the Downs Friday and Saturday, for the Oaks and the Derby. They were joined by significant contingents of MPs and soldiers from the Army Reserves and Kentucky National Guard. Handling a crowd of more than 150,000 horse-lovers takes an appreciable amount of police work.

Louisville wants everyone to have a good time at the Derby. Visitors uniformly comment upon the high level of gracious hospitality they experience in Derby City, and locals know to anticipate gentle treatment from the long arm of the law during the Derby Festival. Not that the cops ever turn a blind eye to serious law violations during the Festival; it’s just that there’s a traditional level of tolerance practiced by our gendarmerie at Derby time.


After the Derby, lots of folks are drunk out of their minds because they hit the Exacta and are rolling in dough (there were 23 Derby Superfecta payouts at $278,503.20 each for $1 bets). Lots more are drunk out of their minds because they bet the paycheck on a bevy of slow nags. Thirteen races, thirteen mint-juleps: you figure it out. Cops won’t let you drive home drunk. Not on Derby day; not ever. But most revelers are leaving on busses, in cabs and limos, or in carpools with designated drivers. So, a staggering gait on Central Avenue will hardly be noticed at 7 p.m. on Derby day. And many people are dressed in attire which would certainly get them arrested at 4th and Broadway on any other day of the year.
Louisville’s finest busted only 44 people at Churchill Downs on Derby day, out of 153,563 visitors to the track. These were mostly Drunk & Disorderlies; along with 6 ticket scalpers and one moron who took a poke at a police horse (he was probably blotto, and mistook the horse for the bum he lost money on in the 12th race). To put this in context, this is approximately the same number of charges LMPD filed against partiers at yesterday’s Screaming Eagles Motorcycle Club bash, down on 28th street (3 dozen traffic violations, 10 misdemeanors, 7 felonies).

LMPD spokeslady Alicia Smiley told the Courier-Journal that Kentucky Oaks day at the Downs on Friday netted 12 busts: 5 for ticket scalping, 2 for outstanding warrants, 1 for drunk, 1 for drunk & disorderly, 1 for menacing & disorderly, 1 for drunk driving, and 1 for drunk, drunk driving, running from the cops, and resisting arrest.

Back in the day, we used to join the young lawyers at the courthouse on Derby morning, hustling the out-of-towners who had been busted at Derby eve bacchanalia. At a couple of hundred bucks a pop, an enterprising barrister could make a couple of grand pretty quick, and still be able to make post time for the first race (where the two grand would usually find its way back into the economic stream). But no more.

Just think of it: 153,563 happily intoxicated gamblers. But no fighting, no gunplay, no pickpockets, and nary a sexual assault to speak of. What’s going on?

It’s the cops. They are there, on the job, to make sure you and your out-of-town guests can have a good time and be pretty much free of concern for your safety. The cops and soldiers are standing guard, sometimes in the rain, to protect your right to have a good time. They don’t get to drink mint juleps, bet on the ponies, or otherwise enjoy the Sport of Kings. They’re on the job. 153,563 patrons are expeditiously moved into and out of Churchill Downs with less of a traffic jam than Bardstown Road on a Saturday night. Churchill Downs has an arrangement with local law enforcement agencies, in which most of the additional expense of law enforcement pay and overtime is covered by the track. Many of these Policemen, Deputy Sheriffs, Troopers, and soldiers would rather be doing something else other than working double shifts, but they’re on guard so that you don’t have to be.

Compare all of this to our sister tracks in the Triple Crown. The Preakness and the Belmont Stakes usually get crowds of around 45,000; but the level of crime and mayhem at those tracks is legendary. Blogger Dan Rodricks calls the Preakness “a time bomb.” Pimlico race track uses rent-a-cops for security, and last year they had to physically eject 126 people from the track, and treated 17 injuries occasioned by the fact that Pimlico still sells beer in cans. A loaded beer can will make a pretty good dent in a guy’s head when tossed from a third-tier seat. Belmont has so many arrests they don’t even keep count anymore; and the problem appears to be historic. A September 3, 1915, New York Times article tells about the 15 arrests the Nassau County Sheriff made at the Belmont Stakes of individuals who were caught gambling. (I’m shocked! Shocked!)



HM at Ascot opening day

Our cousins, the Brits, are hardly more sedate. At last year’s Epsom Derby (they mispronounce it as “Darby”), Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince what’s-his-name, were celebrating the race and the 54th anniversary of her coronation, along with less that 100,000 Britons, while the Surrey Constabulary busted a mere 5 persons: Two arrests were for assault. Three were for drugs possession, disorder, and being drunk in charge of a child. Surry police superintendant Kul Verma told the BBC: "People attended the Derby in good spirits and Surrey Police supported racecourse staff to ensure that race-goers had a safe and enjoyable time.
And at Ascot opening day last year (remember that great song from My Fair Lady?), the British cops busted 54 villains, out of a crowd of 74,000, while HM the Queen recreated along with sundry members of the Royal family and such retinue as Dame Judy Dench and Dame Helen Mirren. Those arrested included “… two boys, aged 16 and 18, armed with a hammer and a snooker ball in a sock…” There will always be an England.

Ascot Police superintendent Mike Ismay told Sporting Life: "A significant number of people attended Royal Ascot today but there were no particular issues for police. There is always difficulty with some people coming back from the races being disorderly and inebriated, but on the whole the vast majority of racegoers are good-humoured and well-behaved."

Now, about that headline. When we said we were busted on Derby Day, the reference, of course, was to our legendary inability to pick winners of horse races. Didn’t come home with a pocket-full of tin. Doo dah. Brother Seedy K. (a/k/a Chuck Kaplan), over at LEO, knows a heckuva lot more about horses than your City Hall Examiner, and he picked Mr. Hot Stuff to win the Derby. Chuck’s a better lawyer than he is a tout: his nag coulda won the Derby, but for the fact that 14 horses crossed the finish line before Mr. (not so) Hot Stuff. Don’t quit your day job, Chuck.

Sgt. John McGuire

The police car? Here’s how that happened: Churchill Downs treats the press with a level of kindness and solicitation worthy of visiting royalty. But this was the first year Miller Transportation ran the Media Shuttle between the press parking lot at Papa John’s Stadium and the track. There were a couple of foul-ups. Saturday evening, your City Hall Examiner, along with the Louisville Sports Examiner, were standing in the drizzle at Gate 10, waiting for the Media Shuttle and talking with the USAR MPs, who were clearly having the time of their lives. When it appeared that the Shuttle was not going to arrive, we were wearily contemplating the 3/4 mile trek back to the press parking lot, lugging our cameras, laptops, and assorted souvenirs (mostly un-cashed pari-mutuel tickets), when an LMPD cop came over to us and asked us if we needed any help.
Sgt. John McGuire, after hearing our tale of woe, and in an abundance of compassion, said: “If you fellas can wait about ten minutes, I’m getting off my shift, and I’ll drop you off at the parking lot. It’s on my way home.” So, that’s how we were physically and unceremoniously removed from the track premises by an LMPD officer.

Sgt. McGuire, by the way, is also the current president of Lodge 614 of the Fraternal Order of Police (the River City FOP), and is quite the gifted conversationalist. He is not only a commanding officer, college graduate, MBA candidate, and all-around decent guy, he is first and foremost a gentlemen. And that describes the overwhelming majority of Louisville’s men and women of law enforcement: Ladies and gentlemen. Louisville, after all, is a town in which uncommon courtesy is commonplace.

CORRECTION: Mr. John Miller advises that Miller Transportation did not provide the Media Shuttle this year, but, in fact, did return several members of the media to their cars at no charge. Our apologies go to Mr. Miller and the fine folks at Miller Transportation for this error.
http://www.examiner.com/