Seattle Police Preparation for Meeting

WTO AAR Home
Executive Summary

Background

Planning
Planning Participants
Intelligence Planning
Operations Planning

Summary of Events

Impact Summary

Lessons Learned

Glossary

Appendices:
A: Continuum of Force:
B: Prisoner Processing
C: SPD Staffing
D: Mutual Aid Deployment
E: L-l Munitions & Chem Irritants
F: Chemical Irritants Resupply G: Kalberer Building
H: Boundary Maps
I: WTO Expenditures
J: Explanation of ICS Model

PSC WTO Operations Plan
Background

The World Trade Organization | Previous Ministerial Meetings

| Seattle Bid Committee | Seattle Host Organization (SHO)

The World Trade Organization (WTO)

The WTO, which was established in 1995, ". . . is the only international agency overseeing the rules of international trade. Its purpose is to help trade flow smoothly, in a system based on rules, to settle trade disputes between governments, and to organize trade negotiations [see www.wto.org]."

The ongoing work of the WTO takes place in a series of small meetings held during the year at the headquarters of the organization, located in Geneva, Switzerland. Large ministerial meetings, scheduled biennually, allow the trade ministers to gather in a host city to conduct intensive negotiations and reach decisions that govern agreements which are binding on the organization’s 134 member nations.

Previous Ministerial Meetings

The first WTO Ministerial meeting was held in Singapore in December 1996. The government of Singapore employed its military to ensure that security for the event was tightly controlled. For example, government support included individually assigned vehicles with military drivers for each attending dignitary. There were no known protests in or around the meeting site.

In contrast to the meeting in Singapore, the Second WTO Ministerial, which was held in Geneva in May 1998, attracted international attention and protest. This meeting coincided with the 50th anniversary of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the WTO’s predecessor organization. The second conference also was attended by 20 world leaders, including President Bill Clinton, and was located in a highly accessible European venue.

Security preparations for the Geneva meeting were extensive. Local police and military resources were utilized to secure venues, protect foreign dignitaries, move dignitaries and delegates around the city, and manage the expected protests. A "security zone" was established with concrete barriers, razor wire, metal and plastic fencing, and uniformed police staffing. Only properly credentialed persons could enter the secured perimeter around the meeting site. This security zone was established before the conference started, thereby preventing demonstrations from accessing the conference venue.

As events unfolded, a large number of protestors appeared in Geneva. Daytime protest activities, including large marches that disrupted traffic, were relatively well organized. Near the site of the ministerial meetings, groups approached police lines and attempted to force entry to the police perimeter. However, protest activity occurred outside the secured perimeter and did not interrupt the Conference.

Some in the crowd broke windows, painted graffiti, and caused other disturbances. During nighttime activity, groups of lawbreakers damaged property, looted businesses, and clashed with police. In response, police used tear gas, water cannons, and made numerous arrests. During the second Conference, President Clinton’s proposal for the WTO Ministerial to be held in the United States was accepted.

Seattle Bid Committee

After the Geneva meeting, business and trade proponents in the Seattle area, with support from local public officials, established a Seattle Bid Committee to bring the Third WTO Ministerial to the city. Seattle was one of 40 U.S. cities that expressed interest in hosting the meeting.

During the last quarter of 1998, SPD Assistant Chief Harv Ferguson met on two occasions with members of the Seattle Bid Committee and the City’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR) to discuss bringing the WTO meeting here. Chief Ferguson provided a brief overview of SPD’s experience handling major events, including the 1990 Goodwill Games and the 1993 Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Conference. At that time, Bid Committee members expressed the view that the WTO Ministerial would be less of an event than either APEC or the Goodwill Games because no heads of state were expected.

Following the formal announcement by Mayor Schell on January 20, 1999, that Seattle had been awarded the bid to host the WTO, a WTO Public Safety Executive Committee was formed and initiated the planning process.

Seattle Host Organization (SHO)

Once Seattle was named as the site of the 1999 WTO Ministerial, a local host organization called the Seattle Host Organization (SHO) was established. The nucleus of the SHO was the Washington Council on International Trade (WCIT), the Boeing Company, and Microsoft. Together with representatives of City, County and State Government, SHO formed a largely volunteer organization to plan the event. A subcommittee structure was used to create the conference plan, however, SHO specifically did not want to have a security subcommittee. Instead, some public safety representatives were invited to attend the general steering committee meetings of SHO that were held every other week. The SPD, FBI, and United States Department of State (USDS) regularly sent representatives to these steering committee meetings.

The WTO Secretariat in Geneva worked closely with both the Federal Government and SHO during their planning for the meetings in Seattle, but by the WTO’s own request, did not participate in security planning. In several meetings with public safety officials, the WTO stated security was the executive responsibility of local law enforcement. This assertion was repeated in a meeting between the City and USDS in mid-February. Federal representatives emphatically stated that they would resist any attempts by the city to seek reimbursement from the State Department for WTO related expenses incurred by the city. The Seattle Police Department did not receive technical assistance or financial support from the WTO for the security of the Ministerial Conference.

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Seattle Police Department - Seattle WA. USA

Last Updated: 04/05/00