Week 2: Reenactments, Pride, and Violence

 This week was particularly interesting in contrast to last week.  For one, two big events occurred. The first event was recreation for Memorial Day, and the second was a pride parade. From my experience, people usually have family gatherings or visit a grave site of a deceased veteran. So I assumed there would be a small turnout at INDE on Memorial Day. Inversely, INDE saw a great number of tourists come through. Nothing out of the ordinary occurred about crime.  The big event was a reenactment and flag-raising taking place outside Independence Hall. The reenactment took about half an hour, and visitors enjoyed it.

I attended court with Ranger Morales on Tuesday.  Ranger Morales was summoned to court because he witnessed a crime a while ago. Unfortunately, his case was not the only one that had a hearing. Twenty (20) cases needed to be heard by a judge, and the case Rager Morales is part of was the last one. On the bright side, I got to experience court proceedings for various types of offenses. Many of the scheduled hearings were continued to another date because the police officer was unavailable. In addition, there was an instance of an officer not appearing for a court hearing twice. The Judge requested the assistant District Attorneys to find out how long the officer would be out 'sick.' Watching court proceedings and interactions between lawyers gave me insight into the legal process after arresting someone. 

As previously mentioned, the Pride Month parade was the second big event this week. The parade is not a sanctioned  National Park Service event; the generated crowds

 overflows into INDE's jurisdiction. INDE has concurrent jurisdiction with Philly PD.  The jurisdiction at INDE is commonly described as 'curb-to-curb" because park structures are often separated by city streets. The Pride Month  Parade occurred in the streets of Philadelphia, so Philly PD has sole jurisdiction over the parade. But Philly PD and INDE can work together for crimes committed on park property.  Philly PD did an excellent job throughout the protest. A group of counter-protesters with 'triggering' signs was at the Pride Month Parade. For example:

As a result, protesters from the parade began to react to the distasteful signs, and Philly PD had to protect the counter-protesters. Similar to the Pride Parade and affiliates, the counter-protesters are exercising their first amendment rights. A fight would have more than likely occurred if Philly PD was not in attendance. 

Sometime later at the parade, Ranger Fitzke and I are approached by a man. According to the man, a lady kicked his daughter because she was trying to touch her dog. The man understood that the dog in question was a service animal---he felt the woman should not have kicked his daughter. Ranger Fitzke made contact with the woman, and she said she did not kick the child. Rather,  she extended her foot to separate the child from her service animal. In addition, she informs Ranger Fitzke that the accuser has been following her since the incident occurred. Ranger Fitzke heard both sides of the story and told both parties to take a walk away from one another to cool off. Both parties complied and left the area. I could have seen the situation escalate due to the woman's dog. As Ranger Fitzke and the woman spoke, the dog jumped at Ranger Fitzke. I thought the Dog was not being controlled when I saw it lunge at Ranger Fitzke, but it was friendly.