The images of the police in full riot gear tear gassing hundreds of people protesting outside the Xcel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention are unforgettable for many people. Both Minneapolis and St. Paul will review police conduct but we wanted to know how you felt.



Our exclusive SurveyUSA poll asked how law enforcement handled the arrests of hundreds of protestors during the Republican National Convention.

Possible responses included too aggressively, not aggressively enough, or just about right. Of the 552 registered Minnesota voters that were asked:

22 percent said officers were too aggressive

15 percent said officers were not aggressive enough

60 percent said officers were just about right

4 percent said they weren't sure

The margin of error was +/- 4.2 percent.

More than 800 people were arrested. Tanisha Smith watched the protests on television and answers the question as "too aggressively for sure."

Joe McArdell says he was caught up in the protests on his way to work and would answer the same way as Smith.

"Too aggressively, far too aggressively," McArdell said.

However, Denise Gray and Julie Skoy disagree. They walked to work everyday during the RNC. Both women say their answer was "just about right."

"When you watched it on the news, that is what the focus was," Skoy said. "Then you saw all of the police and you thought it was too agressive, but when you were down here, in the midst of it, they did a perfect job."

Minneapolis Councilman Cam Gordon said he's not sure "just about right" is the correct answer yet. St. Paul and Minneapolis plan to review the police actions.
"I think what we really want it is to have information out there for people to see what happened, understand what happened," Gordon said.

St. Paul Deputy Mayor Anne Mullholland said the SurveyUSA poll is a good beginning, but public opinion isn't enough.

"What I would say is it doesn't change the mayor's and the city's desire to do a complete review of the convention," Mullholland said.

She said a review of police actions has been planned all along so that future host cities can learn from St. Paul's experience.

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