By Thomas Good, from NLN

The 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota produced over 800 arrests and numerous complaints of police misconduct: pre-emptive raids, mass arrests, targeting of journalists and police brutality - including violence directed against arrestees held in the Ramsey County jail. It was a smaller, but much more violent version of the 2004 RNC held in New York City. By the end of the convention, eight protest organizers had been charged with "conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism" - the first to be charged under Minnesota's version of the Patriot Act. Elected officials in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are pleased the convention is over but for those who protested, and those who reported on the protests, lingering questions remain about police conduct during the RNC. This "Twin Study" is an attempt to put the police behavior in a meaningful context - and to underscore the need to examine that behavior publicly.

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