TUSCON, AZ – Six months on the frontline of the Occupy Movement have come and gone, and my disdain for Tucson’s police force has evolved into outright disgust. In this rather dramatic past six months, I have been arrested forty times, and so far twenty of those cases have been dismissed.

That is the good news. The bad news is that the local police force has escalated from strictly enforcing the law to outright breaking the law in order to quash the Occupy Movement. The fight over the use of public land for the sake of free speech and peaceable assembly has gone back and forth, but most recently there is no place in the City of Tucson that can be occupied twenty four hours a day, even for the purpose of peaceable assembly.

Currently the debacle that has peaceful protesters banging their heads against the wall in Tucson is the police department's denial of Tucson City Code 11-36.2(b)4. It reads:

Section 11-36.2. Prohibited conduct; exceptions.

(a) No person shall sit or lie down upon a public sidewalk or upon a blanket, chair, stool, or any other object placed upon a public sidewalk or median during the hours between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. in the following zones:

Except a person:

(4) Who is exercising First Amendment rights protected by the United States Constitution, including free exercise of religion, speech and assembly; provided, however, that the person sitting or lying on the public sidewalk remains at least eight (8) feet from any doorway or business entrance, leaves open a five (5) foot path and does not otherwise block or impede pedestrian traffic.

In the past two months, the Tucson Police Department has completely ignored this code and used Tucson City Code 16-35 - No person shall obstruct any public sidewalk, street or alley in the city by placing, maintaining or allowing to remain thereon any item or thing that prevents full, free and unobstructed public use in any manner, except as otherwise specifically permitted by law - to arrest and remove people from the sidewalk.

Being a person who has had my first and fourteenth amendment rights violated by the Tucson Police Department, I obviously have a bias. But even the most cop-friendly people can see the obvious violation of our federal, state and local laws. This will seem even more obvious when I have the other twenty criminal violations dismissed, but that alone will not regain our rights.

I will continue to occupy the frontline, putting my mental, emotional, and physical safety at risk to expose the injustices in our city, state and country. It will be an uphill battle and I may not accomplish a thing. But it feels great to have a purpose, and if I don't do something now, when should I?