When trade ministers from 34 countries meet in Miami this November, the man standing between them and protesters like the ones who rampaged through the streets of Seattle in 1999 will be Miami police Chief John Timoney.
As activists plan protests and police train to quell riots, the man charged with keeping the peace in Miami has already had one rehearsal. Timoney was police commissioner in Philadelphia during the 2000 Republican National Convention, when more than 400 demonstrators were arrested.
Now the agency that he heads is in charge of coordinating security for the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting to be held Nov. 20-21. While other agencies are lending a hand, Timoney's department is ultimately responsible for making sure nothing like what has been dubbed the Battle of Seattle breaks out in South Florida.
The stakes are high -- Miami is lobbying to become the seat of the free trade organization -- but riots in November could jeopardize that.
WHY HE'S HERE
City officials say they brought in Timoney, a veteran of the New York and Philadelphia police departments, specifically because he has the kind of experience to handle an event that will put Miami under an international microscope.
''I am very, very confident that everything's going to go very smoothly,'' Miami City Manager Joe Arriola said. ``That's why Timoney's here. He knows what he's doing.''
But groups planning protests worry Miami may go overboard in its effort to project a clean image.
''The city and the county have an interest in making it appear as if everyone in this town loves the [Free Trade Area of the Americas], which is not true,'' said Max Rameau, a founder of the Coalition Against Police Brutality and Harassment and frequent critic of the police department. ``And it gives the officials a reason to, if not push for, then at least wink at aggressive action from the police.''
While city officials are pinning their hopes of a peaceful meeting on Timoney, protesters are convinced the chief is going to cause problems.
MOTIVE QUESTIONED
''Timoney was brought in specifically to inflame people's passions and say people are going to come here and destroy property and then use that as a pretense to do mass arrests and otherwise violate people's rights,'' Rameau said.
Between 20,000 and 100,000 antiglobalization activists are expected to converge on Miami for the meeting. The vast majority of them are planning peaceful activities like teach-ins and marches.
But other trade talks have drawn fringe groups that don't apply for parade permits and don't plan anything peaceful. They believe the only effective attack on corporate America is a violent attack, the window-smashing of Seattle. They're a small minority, but they're looking to provoke big problems, according to nonviolent activist groups and the police.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, one of the groups planning peaceful protests, said the way the police in Miami deal with nonviolent events will determine whether the situation gets out of hand.
SEATTLE EXAMPLE
''The police [in Seattle] basically picked fights, provoked the crowd and ended up causing a lot of what became a very expensive event,'' she said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. ``Don't make yourself a mess that you don't have.''
Timoney won't discuss his specific strategies for dealing with protesters, peaceful or not, but he insists his officers are prepared.
''We train our officers, as we trained them in Philadelphia, that you're going to have these basically spoiled rich kids coming down to try to provoke you, to try to get under your skin,'' he said. ``You meet that with a lot of training and a lot of discipline.''
The chief was Philadelphia's police commissioner during the 2000 Republican National Convention, the first major U.S. event that drew thousands of protesters after the Seattle debacle. But it didn't break out into riots. Timoney's hands-on leadership -- he was out on his bicycle patrolling with the rank and file -- was widely credited with keeping the city under control. Protesters, however, complain he was heavy-handed.
CHARGES DROPPED
More than 400 were arrested. The charges against most of them were dropped, as is often the case with arrests made under the chaotic conditions of a civil disturbance.
Protesters filed a flurry of lawsuits after the convention, claiming police violated their civil rights in a variety of ways. Philadelphia has tried to settle some of those out of court, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Timoney defends his record in Philadelphia.
''If you compare how protesters were handled in Philadelphia than in any other city, they got a great deal in Philadelphia,'' he said. He cited police agreements not to use tear gas and other arrangements that were worked out in advance with protesters.
No such agreements have been worked out in Miami. Police plan to give protesters information packets laying out clearly what they can and can't do and how they can avoid problems.
AGENCIES LINED UP
Some 2,500 officers will be on duty at all times during the meeting. Miami is coordinating the effort, with assistance from the Miami-Dade County, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and Hialeah police departments, the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission officers and other agencies. Miami-Dade Police Director Carlos Alvarez said his agency is working closely with Timoney's folks and that he is confident that Timoney has prepared his forces to face everyone who plans to head to Miami this November.
''I have heard Chief Timoney specifically talk about his philosophy regarding crowds and demonstrations,'' he said. ``We both feel the same way about it. We're not going to be baited into things.''
Officers will be able to use tear gas and rubber bullets, but both agencies say the decision to use them will be made carefully and only in extreme cases.
''The order to utilize force, the order to utilize any sort of chemical agents, the order to arrest comes from a field force commander,'' Alvarez explained. ``Officers do not take individual actions.''
RUMORS FLYING
Although the meeting is four months away, rumors are already flying about city plans to contain the protests. Miami Deputy Chief Frank Fernandez denied stories that the police were preparing to corral protesters or make them invisible behind 10-foot walls.
''Are we going to have an area that's fenced in? Yes. Will they be demonstrating in that area? Yes. Will they be completely fenced in with no avenues of escape? No,'' he said. The fences will be from four to eight feet high and ''unobtrusive,'' he said.
''It won't look like a jail,'' he said.
City officials insist everyone's rights will be respected.
''We believe in the First Amendment, and we're going to make sure everybody's satisfied. They're going to be heard. We'll give them the space to protest,'' Arriola said.
``Obviously, we're not going to allow another Seattle. . . . We're dealing with every situation.''
The protesters are getting ready, too, as are their lawyers.
''Miami won't erupt into chaos, but people will get arrested,'' said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, of the American Civil Liberties Union. ``It's the first real test of the chief's ability to deal with protesters. . . . If he makes it very difficult for protesters to be anywhere near the conference, then that's going to make people more willing to break the law to get closer.''
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