Denver's red squad

http://www.aclu-co.org/news/pressrelease/release_spyfiles.htm

ACLU Calls for Denver Police to Stop Keeping Files on Peaceful Protesters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mar 11, 2002

In a news conference held today, the American Civil Liberties Union 
Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) charged that the Denver Police Department is 
monitoring and recording the peaceful protest activities of Denver-area 
residents and keeping files on the expressive activities of law-abiding 
advocacy organizations.

The ACLU also contended that the Denver Police Department has 
inappropriately smeared the reputations of peaceful advocates of nonviolent 
social change by falsely labeling their organizations as "criminal 
extremist."

To support its contentions, the ACLU released several pages of documents 
that it says came from the files of the Denver Police Department. It also 
announced that it had written to Denver Mayor Wellington Webb asking him to 
put an immediate stop to the gathering and recording of information about 
the peaceful protest activities of Denver residents.

 "The few pages of documents we have obtained so far provide an alarming 
glimpse of the kinds of information the Denver Police Department is 
recording and the kinds of peaceful protest activity it is monitoring 
inappropriately," said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director.

According to the ACLU, the Denver Police Department has recorded the 
following kinds of information about specific individuals, all in files 
marked as "permanent":

* membership in the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker 
organization dedicated to nonviolent social change;

* organizing and speaking at events sponsored by Amnesty International;

* attendance in 2000 at demonstrations sponsored by the Justice for Mena 
Committee, which sought to hold Denver police accountable for the killing 
of Ismael Mena in a botched no-knock raid in 1999;

* membership in End the Politics of Cruelty, a Denver human rights group 
that focuses on issues of police accountability;

* participation in protests against the International Monetary Fund and the 
World Bank in Washington, D.C.;

* membership or association with the Chiapas Coalition, a Denver group that 
supports the rights of indigenous persons in Mexico's poorest state;

* the purported opinion of a member of the Chiapas Coalition that "global 
financial policies are responsible for the uprisings in Chiapas, Mexico";

* being "seen" at a demonstration in 2000 protesting the celebration of 
Columbus Day;

* license numbers and descriptions of vehicles used by individuals 
identified as participants in peaceful protest activities;

* home addresses and personal descriptions of individuals engaged in lawful 
expressive activity;

* the address of a private residence that an individual reportedly 
"frequents";

According to the ACLU, the Denver Police Department branded several local 
organizations with the label "criminal extremist," including the American 
Friends Service Committee; the Chiapas Coalition, and End the Politics of 
Cruelty. "There is no support for labeling any of these groups as either 
extremist or criminal," Silverstein said. "The members of these 
organizations vigorously deny the accuracy of these labels."

"The police have no legitimate reason to keep files on the peaceful 
expression of political views and opinions," Silverstein said. "Denver 
residents should feel free to join a peaceful protest without fear that 
their names will wind up in police files. By monitoring lawful expressive 
activity in this manner and by falsely branding law-abiding organizations 
as criminals and extremists, the police will make Denver residents afraid 
to express their views and afraid to participate fully in our democracy. 
For that reason, we have asked Mayor Webb to put an immediate stop to this 
monitoring of peaceful protest activities."

The ACLU also asked Webb to prohibit the Denver police from sharing the 
files with other law enforcement agencies; to order a public accounting of 
the scope and nature of the files; to notify individuals named in the files 
and provide an opportunity for them to review the information; and to 
preserve the files in case they will be evidence in possible lawsuits.

**************************************

http://www.aclu-co.org/news/pressrelease/release_djcp.htm

ACLU Lawsuit Alleges Golden, Denver Police Illegally Seized Membership 
Lists, Advocacy Materials, from Denver Social Justice Organization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mar 8, 2002

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado (ACLU) filed suit 
against Golden and Denver law enforcement officers today alleging that they 
violated the rights of a Denver social justice organization when they 
searched its office and illegally confiscated membership lists, pamphlets, 
and other materials that are protected by the First Amendment.

The suit was filed on behalf of the twenty-year-old Denver Justice and 
Peace Committee (DJPC), an interfaith grass-roots organization with over 
800 members that advocates for peace and social justice in Latin America. 
On December 14, 2000, Golden police officers, assisted by Denver officers, 
appeared at the DJPC office with a search warrant.

"After videotaping and photographing the entire premises, the officers 
spent three and one-half hours rummaging through closets, desk drawers, 
cupboards, file cabinets, and file folders," said Lino Lipinsky, of McKenna 
& Cuneo, who filed the lawsuit as a volunteer cooperating attorney for the 
ACLU. "They illegally confiscated membership lists, mailing lists, phone 
tree lists, leaflets, pamphlets, posters, newsletters, articles, and other 
advocacy materials."

Police were investigating vandalism that had occurred several days earlier 
at Kohl's Department Store in Golden. DJPC had sponsored a rally at the 
store in support of striking workers in Nicaragua who produce some of 
Kohl's clothing. While the rally was in progress, four unidentified 
individuals dressed as Santa Claus arrived on the scene, entered the store, 
and spray-painted merchandise.

Although DJPC had no connection to the vandalism, which it publicly 
condemned, Golden police sought and obtained a warrant to search the DJPC's 
office, confiscate its membership list, and seize any "pamphlets, papers, 
and flyers that are protest-related"; "Posters that are protest related"; 
and any "Videotape and still photographs of persons protesting any 
organization or business."

 "Any police officer should have known that such a broadly-worded warrant 
violates the First Amendment right of political association and expression 
and the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and 
seizures," said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. "Membership lists, 
pamphlets, papers and flyers are not evidence of crime. They are evidence 
that DJPC engages in lawful advocacy and political association that is 
protected by the Constitution."

According to the ACLU, the search also violated the Privacy Protection Act 
of 1980, which Congress passed as an added layer of legal protection for 
newspapers, advocacy organizations, and others who disseminate information 
to the public. When police officers seek evidence from such organizations, 
Lipinsky explained, the statute requires them to rely first on a subpoena 
before resorting to a search warrant. "A subpoena can be challenged in 
court if it is overbroad," Lipinsky explained. "And when the subpoena is 
appropriate, the organization itself can find the requested materials in 
its files. Congress enacted the Privacy Protection Act to ensure that 
police officers could not barge into the offices of an organization engaged 
in First Amendment activities and start rifling desk drawers and file 
cabinets. What happened in this case is exactly what Congress was trying to 
prevent."

"In addition to confiscating DJPC's membership list, which spanned 60 pages 
and listed over 800 individuals, police confiscated membership lists and 
mailing lists of other organizations, as well as numerous additional 
documents that were not included or specified in the already-overbroad 
warrant," Lipinsky said. According to the lawsuit, police confiscated 
hand-written notes taken at DJPC board meetings; paste-up versions of the 
organization's newsletter, and handwritten notes about articles to be 
included in future newsletters. Police also seized an envelope addressed to 
Kohl's management which contained about 20 individually-signed letters from 
Kohl's shoppers expressing their support for the union workers in 
Nicaragua. According to the lawsuit, police confiscated the only copies of 
these communications, thus preventing them from reaching their intended 
recipient.

After obtaining the names of over 800 members of DJPC, the lawsuit says, 
Golden police officers divided up the list and called every tenth 
individual to question them about the vandalism at Kohl's. They also 
contacted each DJPC board member, as well as members of other groups whose 
names appeared on phone lists and mailing lists found at the DJPC office.

"Golden police inappropriately conducted this investigation as though 
evidence of political views and political association itself were evidence 
of crime," Silverstein said. "They contacted and questioned 100 individuals 
solely on the basis of their political opinions, associations, and 
activities. Such an investigative tactic is not only calculated to 
intimidate and to chill the exercise of First Amendment rights, it is bad 
police work. Golden police did not obtain one useful piece of information 
in any of the one hundred interviews they conducted with individuals whose 
names they obtained illegally from the search of the DJPC office."

The lawsuit also alleges a Denver police officer engaged in racial 
profiling by singling out Luis Espinosa-Organista, DJPC's Hispanic office 
manager, for a pat-down search without cause. No one else on the scene was 
subjected to a frisk.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Denver. In addition to 
the City of Golden and the City and County of Denver, defendants include 
Golden police officers Jeff Kreutzer, Kirsten J. Puttkammer, John Evans, 
and Becky J. Ryder; Denver police officer David Pontarelli; Jefferson 
County District Attorney David J. Thomas, as well as an unnamed employee in 
the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office and an as-yet-unknown 
Denver police officer.

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