NYC police spied all over the country
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.
They made friends, shared meals, swapped e-mail messages and then filed daily reports with the department’s Intelligence Division. Other investigators mined Internet sites and chat rooms.
From these operations, run by the department’s “R.N.C. Intelligence Squad,” the police identified a handful of groups and individuals who expressed interest in creating havoc during the convention, as well as some who used Web sites to urge or predict violence.
But potential troublemakers were hardly the only ones to end up in the files. In hundreds of reports stamped “N.Y.P.D. 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 antiwar 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.
They claim their spying was legal and helped keep disruptions to a minimum. But some of the examples cited sound like they interfered with free speech and spied on groups with zero propensity for law violations.
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.
If it hasn’t become obvious already, welcome to 1984. Granted this broad discretion in the wake of the 9-11 attacks, did they uncover any terror plots or thwart a single act of violence?
If not, then Osama Bin Laden succeeded. He frightened us into accepting a police state in place of our once-free country. Where courage was required, we chose the cowardice of a flock of sheep.
So let’s be good sports to the victor: Congratulations, Osama!
March 25th, 2007 at 9:28 am
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