Police infiltrates..or maybe more then just that ?

July 28, 2006 5:29 AM

Newsfilter: Police officer infiltrates anti-war group obtains leadership position.Still no pacifist have infiltrated terror cell to discredit their activity by reducing terror.
posted by elpapacito (40 comments total)

Following the Oakland port protest and disclosures about the monitoring of activists, Lockyer issued guidelines in 2003 stating that police must suspect that a crime has been committed before collecting intelligence on activist groups.

You mean The Police should fight crime instead of free speech? There's a novel idea!
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:44 AM on July 28, 2006

Am I the only one having a really hard time parsing the text in this FPP?
posted by Plutor at 5:52 AM on July 28, 2006

Keep trying, Plutor. You can do it.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 5:58 AM on July 28, 2006

Plutor: All your dissident group are belong to us.
posted by LondonYank at 6:14 AM on July 28, 2006

Thank god the anti-terrorism forces are spending time infiltrating anti ... war ... groups?

Wha huh?
posted by thekilgore at 6:21 AM on July 28, 2006

Thank god the anti-terrorism forces are spending time infiltrating anti ... war ... groups?

Well that's easy to figure out. Anti-war groups generally post public notices about events, and openly solicit people for inclusion/membership. Terrorist groups do those sorts of things more secretively and are thus more difficult to infiltrate.

Just remember kids: Counter-Terrorism is hard. Got to go for the low-hanging fruit.
posted by psmealey at 6:34 AM on July 28, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

I assume that police have such a adversarial relationship with war protest groups because the squares with buzz-cuts from the sixties who hated the hippies are now the ones in power in law enforcement.

Besides my shallow and glib analysis, is there any reason for these the police scrutinize anti-war groups to the extent that they do? [yes I know that some protesters perform violent acts, but so do some Cubs fans]
posted by peeedro at 6:36 AM on July 28, 2006

It's easier to get laid at an anti-war group meeting (if you can stand the patchouli stink) than it is at an Al Quada meeting, that's my theory. Better drugs too.
posted by Divine_Wino at 6:46 AM on July 28, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ah, but how the unshaved legs chafe!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:54 AM on July 28, 2006

I don't think longshoremen wear patchouli
posted by subtle_squid at 7:03 AM on July 28, 2006

Nothing weird, a terrorist infiltrating Anti-war group

natural stuff
posted by zouhair at 7:04 AM on July 28, 2006

I don't think longshoremen wear patchouli

Longshoremen went unreconstructed middle-earth hippie in the ninties man, get with the program. Shit you might get that ship unloaded sometime this week if you can pry them away from the crusty pots of bulghur, tamborine circles and Uriah Heep albums for a couple minutes. Steel workers too, it's a mess. Revitalized the flavored rolling paper sector though.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:12 AM on July 28, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

So that means the police are now... planning anti war demonstrations...?

Why do they hate America?
posted by beerbajay at 7:13 AM on July 28, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm just saying if I was a cop I would be all about being on the red squad, "I had to eat that pot brownie and go skinnydipping sarge, they were totally on to me."
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:16 AM on July 28, 2006

Wino, you crack me up! Thanks for this story; I missed it and it's important to know about.
posted by squirrel at 7:20 AM on July 28, 2006

Not too long ago. Historical provocateurs. Role models.
posted by davy at 7:23 AM on July 28, 2006

Soon, the police will be infiltrating gangs of surfers.
posted by adamrice at 7:29 AM on July 28, 2006

The best part of that movie is when Anthony Keidis blew his own foot off.
posted by Divine_Wino at 7:30 AM on July 28, 2006

That's just all kinds of crazy...

The protesters voted the undercover guys as leaders within an HOUR of joining... how badly organized is that?

And I'm not really sure how valuable the intel would be on how these groups plan events, when it's your own guys planning them.

Then there's the possibility of undercover cops directing such groups to conduct illegal activities to the detriment of the organization, which sounds a lot like entrapment.

Strange all around.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 8:53 AM on July 28, 2006

The protesters voted the undercover guys as leaders within an HOUR of joining... how badly organized is that?

Yeah - that shows you just how badly these people needed infiltratin'.
posted by thekilgore at 9:43 AM on July 28, 2006

Because if you’re not firing rubber bullets at longshoremen, the terrorists win.
posted by Smedleyman at 9:55 AM on July 28, 2006

2006 starting to sound a lot like 1999.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 11:07 AM on July 28, 2006

Asked who had ordered the officers to infiltrate the group, Jordan said, "I don't know if there is one particular person, but I think together we probably all decided it would be a good idea to have some undercover officers there."

Love the rock-solid chain of command in the Oakland PD.
posted by jtron at 12:05 PM on July 28, 2006

yes I know that some protesters perform violent acts, ]

Some? I was shocked when I first started going to protests at how much people loved to get violent. hell, one guy I was with was just fuming for the 'pigs to start anything.'

Not to mention the kids who were 'professional protestors' who carried the cards of the shadiest lawyers in town in their wallets. Its not like they didnt believe in the cause as much as they hoped they could also cash out by acting like pricks, egging the cops on, and hoping one loses his nerve enough to hit him for the big $ettlement.

I later realized I was engaging in identity politics, thought for myself, and decided the police aren't the villains the uber-left makes them out to be. 99% of what I saw was just them protecting their own and innocents. Just because law enforcement is flawed doesnt mean that protestors are perfect.

but so do some Cubs fans

As a Chi-town native I call bullshit on this. The few arrests I've seen in wrigleyville go like this:

"Thats it youre coming with us"

"Okay"

A 40-something guy isnt going to bring his posse of fellow nuts, scream "pigs" and then trash any capital that doesnt belong to them in 'protest.' Or walk out in the middle of LSD and block traffic to 'stick it to the man.'
posted by the ghost of Ken Lay at 12:46 PM on July 28, 2006

The “probable cause” part aside here - one of the deals with the fourth amendment is that the judge should sign off on something like this precisely because you could have cops “investigating” whorehouses all day on the taxpayers nickel. Questions of efficacy are certainly valid here, what is being protected other than a political position?
If I lived in Oakland, I’d be pretty upset the actions of my police department blew $2 million dollars in taxpayer money.
But then, I’m the frugal type.

/I will second the ghost of Ken Lay’s comments. It’s mostly the St.Louis fans who cause trouble in Wrigleyville.
e.g. “The Cubs Suck!”
“Hey, man, I’m just going to the Salt & Pepper diner”
“....uh...Fuck you.....Woooo!!!!”
*urinates*
posted by Smedleyman at 2:43 PM on July 28, 2006

the ghost of Ken Lay... you are either one of the most wry trolls ever, or you are a stereotype straight out of Archie Bunker.

...walk out in the middle of LSD and block traffic to 'stick it to the man.

Even the phrasing, 'walk out in the middle of LSD', instead of 'while being on LSD' or something similar... too rich. I can see the 'crotchety, old reactionary' image perfectly in my head. You are an artist.
posted by the_savage_mind at 4:28 PM on July 28, 2006

In other surveillance news: Ex-NSA Officer Subpoenaed in Leaks Case
posted by homunculus at 4:40 PM on July 28, 2006

Err, they did walk out in the middle of LSD.

Anti-war protesters swiftly answered the onset of war with a national campaign of civil disobedience, including a seemingly spontaneous march by an estimated 10,000 people that shut down Lake Shore Drive Thursday night, leading to arrests by the busload.

posted by the ghost of Ken Lay at 4:45 PM on July 28, 2006

There’s a road I’d like to tell you about, lives in my home town, Lake Shore Drive the road is called and it’ll take you up or down. There ain’t no finer place to be, than running Lake Shore Drive. And there’s no peace of mind, or place you see, than riding on Lake Shore Drive.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:39 PM on July 28, 2006

/beware however of Bad, bad Leroy Brown.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:41 PM on July 28, 2006

ahhh, I stand much corrected and even more mortified considering the eight years I lived in Chicago.
posted by the_savage_mind at 5:54 PM on July 28, 2006

LSD=Lake Shore Drive
posted by glycolized at 6:01 PM on July 28, 2006

Lake Shore Drive will seriously fuck with your head.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:03 PM on July 28, 2006

Not to mention the kids who were 'professional protestors' who carried the cards of the shadiest lawyers in town in their wallets. Its not like they didnt believe in the cause as much as they hoped they could also cash out by acting like pricks, egging the cops on, and hoping one loses his nerve enough to hit him for the big $ettlement.

Sorry, your GOP underwear is showing, despite your hip user name. Go carry your fucking FoxNews talking points off a cliff, asshole.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 6:14 PM on July 28, 2006

Yea, man only a paid up damn Bush-loving GOP arselicker wouldn't recognize that all protestors are peace-loving, right-thinking, awesome doodz* who'd no more try to create violence than they would want to disrupt entire cities!

* and any that aren't are undercover cops, right?
posted by jacalata at 7:46 PM on July 28, 2006

I heard the original Lake Shore Drive was gone anyway.
posted by homunculus at 7:51 PM on July 28, 2006

In other news, Klan Rally 70 Percent Undercover Reporters.
posted by Harald74 at 4:44 AM on July 29, 2006

I wish I could remember where I read a statistical proof that the NSA phone snooping is only good for finding political dissension, not terrorists.

As it is above, so it is below. This incident is the same mindset acting at the local level. Is anyone really surprised?
posted by Enron Hubbard at 5:21 AM on July 29, 2006

that all protestors are peace-loving, right-thinking, awesome doodz* who'd no more try to create violence than they would want to disrupt entire cities!

No, you're right. Not all. Only something like 99.9% in the US are peaceful. Damn them!
posted by the_savage_mind at 6:29 AM on July 29, 2006

Man Arrested For Shooting Photo Of Police Activity
posted by homunculus at 2:20 PM on July 29, 2006