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The NYPD decided not to appeal a judge's decision that the NYPD should declassify its surveillance documents from the 2004 RNC, so it has set up a special NYPD RNC Documents website with the documents. Of course, you have to scroll down to the very bottom for a zip file of the 600 pages of documents. And what's above the documents is the NYPD's rather thorough explanation/ defense justifying why it did such extensive surveillance of disparate groups and people, listing various terror incidents between 2001 and the convention as well as other incidents of protest. Here is Police Commissioner Ray Kelly's statement:
“I think a close examination of the documents is going to show that the New York City Police Department did an outstanding job in protecting the City during the Republican National Convention. People wanted to come here and shut down the City, to replicate what happened in Seattle, Montreal and Genoa. We simply didn't let that happen, and I think it'll just underscore the outstanding work of the men and women of the Department. In terms of gathering information, the vast majority of information that was gathered was open-source information. It was gathered from the Internet; these groups that were coming here were advertising what they were going to do — bragging about what they were going to do. It wasn't particularly difficult to get the vast majority of this information.”Good to know that the NYPD is watching all of us, including MSNBC and the Sierra Club. The NY Times has all the documents plus highlights which people and/or groups were mentioned in the documents. Here are but a few:
ACT UP, Sierra Club, City Council members (Charles Barron, David Weprin, Bill Perkins), Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, Johnny Cash Bloc, MSNBC, A31 Coalition, NYCLU, NOW, Planned Parenthood, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Stuyvesant High School Students, Westboro Baptist Church, Indymedia, Democratic National Committee, Coalition of Fire and Police Unions, Grandmothers Against War, Falun Gong, Arab Muslim American Foundation, Time's Up, Billionaires For Bush, United for Peace and Justice, The Surveillance Camera Players, ACLU, Hip Hop Summit Action Network, The Federation of East Village Artists, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Restaurant Opportunity Center of New YorkThe NYCLU's executive director Donna Lieberman said, "These documents paint a picture of a surveillance program that was broad, clumsy, and often unlawful. The NYPD failed to differentiate between unlawful behavior and behavior that is not only lawful but should in fact be cherished and protected. Today the public can finally bear witness to that failure." The NYCLU also offers an index of the groups monitored as well as the documents released yesterday, plus others previously released.
And City Councilman Charles Barron told the NY Times' Sewell Chan, "First of all, I’m going to be getting some legal advice. I’m not going to let this go. This is ridiculous that you would spy on democratic, legal, political activity. This smacks of former fascism. It certainly is selective spying. It is absurd that people in this city can’t exercise their constitutional right to protest without being spied on by the police."
Photograph by ireallylovecake on Flickr
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The NYPD rock. They indeed kept the city open for those who did not want to deal with the hassles of the RNC and those that oppose them.
I'm glad they did a thorough job of monitoring everybody. Certainly mistakes were made, but in aggregate, an A+ effort.
I should add... Glad that we didn't see use of the long list of weapons that were "advocated by anarchists or other activist groups":
* Ammonium nitrate bombs strapped with nails
* Molotov cocktails
* Smoke bombs
* “Firebombs” of Molotov cocktails
* Toxic and Flammable Liquids
* Human body fluids
* Projectile Launches
* Sleeping Dragons
* Tiki Torch
* Super-Soakers
* Rolling Barrels
Thank you NYPD... Too much blame, not enough credit.
This is what you get after 12 years of Republican leadership: the police breaking the law and acting like fascists.
Okay there, CD, keep stroking yourself into a NYPD wet dream. For the rest of us, this is a wake up call showing that we've been living in a goddamn police state...one that hasn't made us any safer from actual terrorism. Instead we get surveillance over non-violence groups like Grandmothers Against war and comedic acts like Billionaires for Bush.
What complete and utter shame.
Curses .... foiled again.
It's amazing how some people like CD want to hide themselves from the truth. I have to truly wonder if CD was even in the city for the RNC because I know my personal experience was a nightmare. For a simple walk up 8th Ave to visit a vendor for business matters, I was frisked 4 times, had a 15 minute conversation with "security" over my case containing graphic artwork.
As for the list printed, it's an injustice to everyone who believes in peaceful change. The only one that I would exempt from that list are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. If you don't know who they are, they are run by Rev. Fred Phelps. To see how peaceful and "Christian" they really are you only need to go to godhatesfags.com.
I wish the "I'm leaving America" crowd would actually leave and they can find out first hand that surveillance is a way of life in other Western democracies. People accept it and don't start making Nazi references. It's the sort of thing you don't learn sitting around in cafes bad mouthing the US on junior year abroad.
Spying on civil liberties groups... hmm, that sounds familiar. Shows how little progress we've made in 40 years :(
monitoring public activities of groups is not illegal. If you have an open meeting anyone can attend. Even undercover cops. Again, move to Europe. I'd like to see you guys stand up and tell them their system is a travesty of human rights abuse. Watch 99% of the country stone you.
:)
i was one of those surveilled by the nypd during thue repugnikkkan convention since i used to pie politicians in the 70s and 80s....well i am not letting this slide at all in the legal sense
i was one of those surveilled by the nypd during the repugnikkkan convention...i am not letting this slide
Westboro Baptist Church AND Stuyvesant High School Students?? WOW...
As a Stuy grad I am offended that the Brooklyn Techies are not on the list, they are WAY more militant than we were. Also as a Manhattanite I thought the NYPD did a good job keeping the extremists on both sides in control. Also so what if it inconvenienced some lefty trust fund rich kids when they were frisked, compared to MANY other countries the US level of surveillance is tame.
"Again, move to Europe...Watch 99% of the country stone you."
Stonings in Europe? I'll have to check my Rough Guide. Could be fun. Does anyone have a city to recommend? Prague? Barcelona? Palermo?
BTW, nice to see the NYPD is keeping us safe from MSNBC. I've often wished someone would drag Joe Scarborough away in cuffs.
Maybe because Tech is in Brooklyn? Also, NYCLU is a "Terrorist" organization? Is the NYPD drinking the Kool Aid? Was the NY chapter of the NRA there?
CD, out of curiosity: Did you make up that list or do you have a link to it?
Aside from the Westboro Baptist Church, no rightwing organizations? Aren't they the ones bombing Planned Parenthood offices?
It's interesting. According to CD, the reason that there was no "weapons that were 'advocated by anarchists or other activist groups'" in use during the RNC is because of police spying, not because nobody planned to use any weapons anyway (oh, that is, except for the police - i clearly remember being hit by batons and pepper sprayed while fully complying with their demands during the RNC).
So if you just start on the assumption that the worst is definitely going to happen - no matter what the evidence that comes from spying on citizens yields - than police violence and illegal surveillance is always sociall excusable.
Love that freedom...
Charles Barron (always a cool, calm head in a crisis) seems to be unaware that when you are in a public place, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy. It's legal to protest, and it's legal to take pictures of protestors.
I was (and still am) against the RNC being held in NYC and understood the need to protest. That being said, there have been incidents in which protesters have claimed abuse which have been proven false because they were recorded on video by the police. If protesters can videotape police to try and catch them doing something wrong, why can't the police do the same?
The bottom line is that the NYPD DID do a good job of making sure that there was not incidents of civil unrest that would tie up the rest of the city. I work literally right around the corner and had no problem at all with crowds or unruly behavior by either the police or protesters.