Sunday, March 25, 2007

Vast Illegal Spying by the New York Police Department

I just submitted the following information to the FBI through their "TIPS" hotline at this URL https://tips.fbi.gov/ The story that prompted this can be reached by clicking on the post title. I suggest that all loyal 'Merikuns also report this illegal spying to the FBI.

Dear FBI

As this story posted on the Dailkos blog

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/3/24/18632/9638,

as well as in today's New York Times indicate, the constitutionally protected rights of we the people to 1) freely assemble, 2) freely speak and 3) freely express our views, were violated by the New York Police Department in the run up to the 2004 Republic Party convention in New York city. Imagine that happening in a democracy???

Like you I am deeply concerned that this and other actions, primarily taken by the Bush Administration, are rapidly converting our democracy into a police state - and a radical theocracy on top of that.

Because all employees of the Justice Department are right now scurrying to cover your collective asses on top of the asses of the policital appointees above you, I assume that the FBI hasn't been able to work on this heinous violation of Federal law. And its Federal law because the New York Police Department crossed state lines and even international boundaries to illegally spy on law abiding citizens. Because of your CYA work load at the moment I'm submitting this information to you so that as soon as Gitmo Al Gonzales resigns and things cool down a bit at J Edgar's building, the super slueths at FBI can start investigating and arresting the NYPD thugs who violated the law.

My only concern, given the seriousness of the US Attorney purge is that you might not find a US Attorney in NYC willing to prosecute this case for fear of pissing off George Dumbya or KKKarl Rove.

However as a loyal 'Merikun I had to report this to you. Now go smoke em out and git em. K?

Craig Faanes
Loyal 'Merikun


NYT: Vast, illegal spying targeted protesters


by EZ writer

Sat Mar 24, 2007 at 03:09:02 PM PDT

I attended the protests at the GOP convention in 2004, flying in from the Rockies.
Turns out, political groups around the country were being spied on by New York’s finest.

Coming from The New York Times:

For at least a year before the 2004 Republican National Convention, teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe to conduct covert observations of people who planned to protest at the convention, according to police records and interviews.

From Albuquerque to Montreal, San Francisco to Miami, undercover New York police officers attended meetings of political groups, posing as sympathizers or fellow activists, the records show.

New York Times story is not on their Web site yet, but should be momentarily.

You have to wonder how many of the 1,800 or so arrests at the GOP convention protests were prefabricated.

Potential troublemakers were hardly the only ones to end up in the police files. In hundreds of reports stamped "NYPD Secret," the Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law, the records show.

These included members of street theater companies, church groups and anti-war organizations, as well as environmentalists and people opposed to the death penalty, globalization and other government policies. Three New York City elected officials were cited in the reports.

Police records indicate that in addition to sharing information with other police departments, New York undercover officers were active themselves in at least 15 places outside New York -- including California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montreal, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C. -- and in Europe.

This by the way, is all perfectly ILLEGAL:

Under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, undercover surveillance of political groups is generally legal, but the police in New York -- like those in many other big cities -- have operated under special limits as a result of class-action lawsuits filed over police monitoring of civil rights and anti-war groups during the 1960s.

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