[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Major Variola ret) writes: > >http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020312/ap_on_re_us/police_surveillance_1&printer=1 > > Denver Police Keeping Illegal Files > Tue Mar 12,11:09 AM ET > > By ROBERT WELLER, Associated Press Writer > > DENVER (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) > has accused the Denver Police Department of keeping illegal files on > peaceful protest groups including Amnesty International and the Nobel > Peace Prize-winning American Friends Service Committee. > > The ACLU's Colorado legal director, Mark Silverstein, showed reporters > files he said came from the police department. > > Silverstein wouldn't say how he obtained the files. He said they were > marked as permanent, not simply reports that would be discarded at the > end of the day. > > "These are a small sampling of documents we have that show Denver > police are monitoring peaceful protest activities of individuals and > law-abiding groups," he said at a news conference Monday. > > The ACLU has asked the mayor to stop all monitoring, make all files > available to their subjects and have police disclose who has been > given the information, Silverstein said. He threatened to sue if the > practice (news - Y! TV) isn't stopped. > > Andrew Hudson, spokesman for Mayor Wellington Webb, said Webb had > asked police for a full report to answer the group's concerns. > > "The mayor thinks their concerns are legitimate," Hudson said. > > Denver Public Safety Department spokeswoman C.L. Harmer said police > would comply with the mayor's request. > > Stephen B. Nash, who was identified in one of the files as an event > organizer for Amnesty International, said police could not say the > files were needed for security because of the Sept. 11 attacks. > > "My file goes back to 2000, well before Sept. 11," Nash said. > > The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group, "acts in the > best tradition of nonviolence," said Barry Leaman-Miller, who was > identified in one file as a member of the "American Friends Service > Committee (criminal extremist G)." > > There was no immediate explanation for the "criminal extremist" note. > > Harmer said people named in the files were not considered criminals > and the files were collected because legal gatherings are sometimes > the scene of illegal actions. > > "Law-abiding groups sponsoring lawful assemblies can be unwitting > magnets for unlawful activity," she said. > > "If you go to a peaceful demonstration, is your name going to come > up when you get a traffic ticket? The answer is no, because the data > isn't shared," she said. "I don't think this is a retreat to the era > of J. Edgar Hoover." > > Harmer said that although the intelligence-gathering started before > the terrorist attacks, the attacks illustrated the need for such > files. > > Among the events mentioned in the files were a protest of an > Italian-led parade honoring Columbus, protests of a killing by a > police SWAT team that went to the wrong house, protests against the > International Monetary Fund (news - web sites) and World Bank (news > - web sites), and demonstrations by the Chiapas Coalition against > alleged civil rights violations in Mexico's poorest state. > > "This is really outrageous to me ... since Sept. 11 immigration equals > terrorism," said Luis Espinosa, a member of the Chiapas group.
