When Colin Powell was getting ready to fight the Gulf War, a bunch of journalists branded his opinions and views as The Powell Doctrine. It stipulated the criteria required for the U.S. to enter a war, plus, that once the U.S. entered a war, it would use all of its resources to overwhelm an enemy and force them into capitulation.
Most of us will never get a chance to see the U.S. government direct overwhelming force at anything – and that’s a good think. However, every now and then, even in civil society, it pops up. Last night as I was walking home at 2 in the morning, the NYPD was practising their brand of overwhelming force.
I have no idea what happened, but out of nowhere on Ninth Ave at 21st, police cars just began to appear. Three paddy wagons came flying down the street. Two unmarked SUVs appeared out of nowhere. A black mustang morphed into a cruiser and at the same time both highway and street patrol cars came rushing to the intersection. Little three-wheeled police scooters popped up in intersections and secured streets. Tires were squealing, engines were revving and adrenaline was flowing.
And then it was all over. Within 30 seconds of congregating on the street corner, the cops were leaving again. One squad car was flying up the bike lane against traffic. On the other side of Ninth the mustang was also raging against traffic with its lights blazing. In seconds, the intersection looked like nothing had happened.
I went in to the local bodega, bought a bottle of pop and turned back to 23rd. When I rounded the corner, the whole street was lit up. It felt like the entire NYPD was there. I counted at least 18 police officers surrounding a captain barking orders. The “quality of life taxi” was there, with undercover officers lurking and looking. The street was littered with every type of vehicle haphazardly parked with lights blazing. Young cops were flying about asking anyone if they’d “seen someone running that way”. Here’s a photo:
I’ve no idea what happened, but as I got up this morning, the city has once again swallowed any trace of the night’s action.