NYPD Infiltrated Liberal Political Groups, According To New Documents
Posted: 03/23/2012 8:41 am EDT Updated: 05/23/2012 5:12 am EDT
By MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.
The infiltration echoes the tactics the NYPD used in the run-up to New York's 2004 Republican National Convention, when police monitored church groups, anti-war organizations and environmental advocates nationwide. That effort was revealed by The New York Times in 2007 and in an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit over how the NYPD treated convention protesters.
Police said the pre-convention spying was necessary to prepare for the huge, raucous crowds that were headed to the city. But documents obtained by The Associated Press show that the police department's intelligence unit continued to keep close watch on political groups in 2008, long after the convention had passed.
In April 2008, an undercover NYPD officer traveled to New Orleans to attend the People's Summit, a gathering of liberal groups organized around their shared opposition to U.S. economic policy and the effect of trade agreements between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
More:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/nypd-infiltrated-liberal-political-groups_n_1374823.html
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December 22, 2005
Police Infiltrate Protests, Videotapes Show
By JIM DWYER
Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show.
In glimpses and in glaring detail, the videotape images reveal the robust presence of disguised officers or others working with them at seven public gatherings since August 2004.
The officers hoist protest signs. They hold flowers with mourners. They ride in bicycle events. At the vigil for the cyclist, an officer in biking gear wore a button that said, "I am a shameless agitator." She also carried a camera and videotaped the roughly 15 people present.
Beyond collecting information, some of the undercover officers or their associates are seen on the tape having influence on events. At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.
Until Sept. 11, the secret monitoring of events where people expressed their opinions was among the most tightly limited of police powers.
Provided with images from the tape, the Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, did not dispute that they showed officers at work but said that disguised officers had always attended such gatherings - not to investigate political activities but to keep order and protect free speech. Activists, however, say that police officers masquerading as protesters and bicycle riders distort their messages and provoke trouble.
The pictures of the undercover officers were culled from an unofficial archive of civilian and police videotapes by Eileen Clancy, a forensic video analyst who is critical of the tactics. She gave the tapes to The New York Times. Based on what the individuals said, the equipment they carried and their almost immediate release after they had been arrested amid protesters or bicycle riders, The Times concluded that at least 10 officers were incognito at the events.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/nyregion/22police.html?pagewanted=print&_r=0
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New York Police Watched Nonprofits before 2004 GOP Convention
by Sam Kim, 4/3/2007
A March 25 story in the New York Times revealed that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) conducted a covert surveillance program in 14 states, Canada and Europe that collected information on groups planning lawful protests or events at the 2004 Republican National Convention. The information became public as a result of two lawsuits brought against the city by seven of the 1,806 people arrested during the convention. However, the city has asked a federal court to keep detailed records of this surveillance secret, fearing they will be "misinterpreted." The vast scope of the surveillance has become public knowledge at the same time that Congress is investigating Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) abuse of Patriot Act powers to collect information.
The Times investigation found that during the year leading up to the Republican convention, NYPD sent agents to cities such as Albuquerque, Montreal and Miami. They attended meetings and filed detailed reports. In some cases, they contacted the police departments in other cities about peaceful anti-war events, such as concerts billed as Bands Against Bush that included political speeches between sets. Anti-war groups were not the only targets. According to the Times, church groups, environmentalists, anti-death penalty groups and street theatre groups were also watched. In all, the Times said NYPD "chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law."
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) filed the lawsuits in October 2004, challenging use of mass arrests, improper detention and fingerprinting as violations of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. NYCLU was successful in convincing the city to destroy fingerprint records of people arrested for minor offenses. However, the group's effort to have the mass arrest procedures barred from future use is proceeding to trial.
The NYCLU obtained the NYPD documents through the pre-trial discovery process, and the court granted permission to make the information public in January 2007. Judge James C. Francis of the Federal District Court in Manhattan said, "The questions posed by these cases have great public significance. At issue is the proper relationship between the free speech rights of protesters and the means used by law enforcement officials to maintain public order." The documents were posted on the NYCLU website in late February. In addition, the Times reviewed still-secret records on the surveillance program and joined the NYCLU's request to the court to unseal them. The city opposes the motion, saying the news media will sensationalize the information.
More:
http://www.foreffectivegov.org/node/3247
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Referring to the Miami attacks on protesters, and the police attacks on a lot of men and women union people over 65 years old, and the tear gas and far worse weapons they used on everyone, there was also the fact that cops started rounding up people on the streets THREE days in advance before the conference started, and throwing them in the slammer over trumped up charges to send the message they weren't going to take anything from anyone, so everyone should fuck off! They brought the former tough Police Chief John Timmony, of Philadelphia, and New York, down to Miami to be in charge of this festival of sadism.
Thanks for your information. That surely needed to be mentioned to keep this thread from being the propaganda pustule it would have been without your presence.
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