Police Infilitrate Protests, Videotapes Show

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Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:08:33 -0800

Police Infilitrate Protests, Videotapes Show

 

 

 

 

> [New York Times]

>

> December 22, 2005

>

> Police Infilitrate 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

> 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.

>

> After the 2001 terrorist attacks, officials at all levels of

> government considered major changes in various police powers.

> President Bush acknowledged last Saturday that he has secretly

> permitted the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a warrant

> on international telephone calls and e-mail messages in terror

> investigations.

>

> In New York, the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg

> persuaded a federal judge in 2003 to enlarge the Police Department's

> authority to conduct investigations of political, social and

> religious groups. " We live in a more dangerous, constantly changing

> world, " Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said.

>

> Before then, very few political organizations or activities were

> secretly investigated by the Police Department, the result of a 1971

> class-action lawsuit that charged the city with abuses in

> surveillance during the 1960's. Now the standard for opening

> inquiries into political activity has been relaxed, full authority to

> begin surveillance has been restored to the police and federal courts

> no longer require a special panel to oversee the tactics.

>

> Mr. Browne, the police spokesman, said the department did not

> increase its surveillance of political groups when the restrictions

> were eased. The powers obtained after Sept. 11 have been used

> exclusively " to investigate and thwart terrorists, " Mr. Browne said.

> He would not answer specific questions about the disguised officers

> or describe any limits the department placed on surveillance at

> public events.

>

> Jethro M. Eisenstein, one of the lawyers who brought the lawsuit 34

> years ago, said: " This is a level-headed Police Department, led by a

> level-headed police commissioner. What in the world are they doing? "

>

> For nearly four decades, civil liberty advocates and police officials

> have fought over the kinds of procedures needed to avoid excessive

> intrusion on people expressing their views, to provide accountability

> in secret police operations and to assure public safety for a city

> that has been the leading American target of terrorists.

>

> To date, officials say no one has complained of personal damage from

> the information collected over recent months, but participants in the

> protests, rallies and other gatherings say the police have been a

> disruptive presence.

>

> Ryan Kuonen, 32, who took part in a " ride of silence " in memory of a

> dead cyclist, said that two undercover officers - one with a camera -

> subverted the event. " They were just in your face, " she said. " It

> made what was a really solemn event into something that seemed wrong.

> It made you feel like you were a criminal. It was grotesque. "

>

> Ms. Clancy, a founder of I-Witness Video, a project that collected

> hundreds of videotapes during the Republican National Convention that

> were used in the successful defense of people arrested that week, has

> assembled videotape of other public events made by legal observers,

> activists, bystanders and police officers.

>

> She presented examples in October at a conference of defense lawyers.

> " What has to go on is an informed discussion of policing tactics at

> public demonstrations, and these images offer a window into the

> issues and allow the public to make up their own mind, " Ms. Clancy

> said. " How is it possible for police to be accountable when they

> infiltrate events and dress in the garb of protesters? "

>

> The videotapes that most clearly disclosed the presence of the

> disguised officers began in August 2004. What happened before that is

> unclear.

>

> Among the events that have drawn surveillance is a monthly bicycle

> ride called Critical Mass. The Critical Mass rides, which have no

> acknowledged leadership, take place in many cities around the world

> on the last Friday of the month, with bicycle riders rolling through

> the streets to promote bicycle transportation. Relations between the

> riders and the police soured last year after thousands of cyclists

> flooded the streets on the Friday before the Republican National

> Convention. Officials say the rides cause havoc because the

> participants refuse to obtain a permit. The riders say they can use

> public streets without permission from the government.

>

> In a tape made at the April 29 Critical Mass ride, a man in a

> football jersey is seen riding along West 19th Street with a group of

> bicycle riders to a police blockade at 10th Avenue. As the police

> begin to handcuff the bicyclists, the man in the jersey drops to one

> knee. He tells a uniformed officer, " I'm on the job. " The officer in

> uniform calls to a colleague, " Louie - he's under. " A second officer

> arrives and leads the man in the jersey - hands clasped behind his

> back - one block away, where the man gets back on his bicycle and

> rides off.

>

> That videotape was made by a police officer and was recently turned

> over by prosecutors to Gideon Oliver, a lawyer representing bicycle

> riders arrested that night.

>

> Another arrest that appeared to be a sham changed the dynamics of a

> demonstration. On Aug. 30, 2004, during the Republican National

> Convention, a man with vivid blond hair was filmed as he stood on

> 23rd Street, holding a sign at a march of homeless and poor people. A

> police lieutenant suddenly moved to arrest him. Onlookers protested,

> shouting, " Let him go. " In response, police officers in helmets and

> with batons pushed against the crowd, and at least two other people

> were arrested.

>

> The videotape shows the blond-haired man speaking calmly with the

> lieutenant. When the lieutenant unzipped the man's backpack, a two-

> way radio could be seen. Then the man was briskly escorted away,

> unlike others who were put on the ground, plastic restraints around

> their wrists. And while the blond-haired man kept his hands clasped

> behind his back, the tape shows that he was not handcuffed or

> restrained.

>

> The same man was videotaped a day earlier, observing the actress

> Rosario Dawson as she and others were arrested on 35th Street and

> Eighth Avenue as they filmed " This Revolution, " a movie that used

> actual street demonstrations as a backdrop. At one point, the blond-

> haired man seemed to try to rile bystanders.

>

> After Ms. Dawson and another actress were placed into a police van,

> the blond-haired man can be seen peering in the window. According to

> Charles Maol, who was working on the film, the blond-haired man is

> the source of a voice that is heard calling: " Hey, that's my brother

> in there. What do you got my brother in there for? "

>

> After Mr. Browne was sent photographs of the people involved in the

> convention incidents and the bicycle arrests, he said, " I am not

> commenting on descriptions of purported or imagined officers. "

>

> The federal courts have long held that undercover officers can

> monitor political activities for a " legitimate law enforcement

> purpose. " While the police routinely conduct undercover operations in

> plainly criminal circumstances - the illegal sale of weapons, for

> example - surveillance at political events is laden with ambiguity.

> To retain cover in those settings, officers might take part in public

> dialogue, debate and demonstration, at the risk of influencing others

> to alter opinions or behavior.

>

> The authority of the police to conduct surveillance of First

> Amendment activities has been shaped over the years not only by the

> law but also by the politics of the moment and the perception of

> public safety needs.

>

> In the 1971 class-action lawsuit, the city acknowledged that the

> Police Department had used infiltrators, undercover agents and fake

> news reporters to spy on yippies, civil rights advocates, antiwar

> activists, labor organizers and black power groups.

>

> A former police chief said the department's intelligence files

> contained a million names of groups and individuals - more in just

> the New York files than were collected for the entire country in a

> now-discontinued program of domestic spying by the United States Army

> around the same time. In its legal filings, the city said any

> excesses were aberrational acts.

>

> The case, known as Handschu for the lead plaintiff, was settled in

> 1985 when the city agreed to extraordinary new limits in the

> investigation of political organizations, among them the creation of

> an oversight panel that included a civilian appointed by the mayor.

> The police were required to have " specific information " that a crime

> was in the works before investigating such groups.

>

> The Handschu settlement also limited the number of police officers

> who could take part in such investigations and restricted sharing

> information with other agencies.

>

> Over the years, police officials made no secret of their belief that

> the city had surrendered too much power. Some community affairs

> officers were told they could not collect newspaper articles about

> political gatherings in their precincts, said John F. Timoney, a

> former first deputy commissioner who is now the chief of police in

> Miami.

>

> The lawyers who brought the Handschu lawsuit say that such concerns

> were exaggerated to make limits on police behavior seem unreasonable.

> The city's concessions in the Handschu settlement, while similar to

> those enacted during that era in other states and by the federal

> government, surpassed the ordinary limits on police actions.

>

> " It was to remedy what was a very egregious violation of people's

> First Amendment rights to free speech and assemble, " said Jeremy

> Travis, the deputy police commissioner for legal affairs from 1990 to

> 1994.

>

> At both the local and federal level, many of these reforms

> effectively discouraged many worthy investigations, Chief Timoney

> said. " The police departments screw up and we go to extremes to fix

> it, " Chief Timoney said. " In going to extremes, we leave ourselves

> vulnerable. "

>

> Mr. Travis, who was on the Handschu oversight panel, said that

> intelligence officers understood they could collect information,

> provided they had good reason.

>

> " A number of courts decided there should be some mechanism set up to

> make sure the police didn't overstep the boundary, " said Mr. Travis,

> who is now the president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. " It

> was complicated finding that boundary. " The authority to determine

> the boundary would be handed back to the Police Department after the

> Sept. 11 attacks.

>

> On Sept. 12, 2002, the deputy police commissioner for intelligence,

> David Cohen, wrote in an affidavit that the police should not be

> required to have a " specific indication " of a crime before

> investigating. " In the case of terrorism, to wait for an indication

> of crime before investigating is to wait far too long, " he wrote.

>

> Mr. Cohen also took strong exception to limits on police surveillance

> of public events.

>

> In granting the city's request, Charles S. Haight, a federal judge in

> Manhattan, ruled that the dangers of terrorism were " perils

> sufficient to outweigh any First Amendment cost. "

>

> New guidelines say undercover agents may be used to investigate

> " information indicating the possibility of unlawful activity " - but

> also say that commanders should consider whether the tactics are

> " warranted in light of the seriousness of the crime. "

>

> Ms. Clancy said those guidelines offered no clear limits on

> intrusiveness at political or social events. Could police officers

> take part in pot-luck suppers of antiwar groups, buy drinks for

> activists? Could they offer political opinions for broadcast or

> publication while on duty but disguised as civilians?

>

> Mr. Browne, the police spokesman, declined to answer those questions.

> Nor would he say how often - if ever - covert surveillance at public

> events has been approved by the deputy commissioner for intelligence,

> as the new guidelines require.

>

>

>

> http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/22/nyregion/22police.html?

>

>