NYT: (NYC) Police Officers Sue Over Police Surveillance of Their Protests

[DeepModem Mom]

Police Officers Sue Over Police Surveillance of Their Protests
By JIM DWYER
Published: February 3, 2006


The demonstrators arrived angry, departed furious. The police had herded them into pens. Stopped them from handing out fliers. Threatened them with arrest for standing on public sidewalks. Made notes on which politicians they cheered and which ones they razzed.

Meanwhile, officers from a special unit videotaped their faces, evoking for one demonstrator the unblinking eye of George Orwell's "1984."

"That's Big Brother watching you," the demonstrator, Walter Liddy, said in a deposition.

Mr. Liddy's complaint about police tactics, while hardly novel from a big-city protester, stands out because of his job: He is a New York City police officer. The rallies he attended were organized in the summer of 2004 by his union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, to protest the pace of contract talks with the city.

Now the officers, through their union, are suing the city, charging that the police procedures at their demonstrations — many of them routinely used at war protests, antipoverty marches and mass bike rides — were so heavy-handed and intimidating that their First Amendment rights were violated....


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/03/nyregion/03police.html?hp&ex=1138942800&en=c5017246a80932b2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[babylonsister]

1. Holy moly! This is really unbelieveable! K & R! I thought you had

messed up on the title! :crazy:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. I thought the same thing

Good to know I wasn't the only one having trouble wrapping my mind around the headline. :)

[Poll_Blind]

2. Don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot, eh officer? n/t

PB

[For PaisAn]

3. Karma

a bit hypocritical, don't ya think, Mr. Liddy.

[adigal]

4. Can you believe this?? We are really bad

when the police are protesting the police tactics in this nation.

I was reminded of the days after 9/11, when the police tried to block the firemen from the WTC site, and the firemen were protesting. The cops had a very heavy hand, and everyone thought it was just fear and emotion run amuk, but I wondered then, and I really wonder now.

[Jujiman]

5. Cop Spy Cop

Wow,this is FUNNY and TRAGIC!

:rofl: :cry:

[Rose Siding]

7. Stranger than fiction

Good luck, Walter.

[FogerRox]

8. great story rate this up-- recommend the thread please

[struggle4progress]

9. They deserve our full support. eom

[salin]

19. agreed

both because it is the right thing to do.

and because it makes clear that *anyone* can be the target of big brother if they are voicing dissent against the govt be it local, state or federal govt.

[mike_c]

10. I hope the irony wasn't lost on these (restraint! restraint!) cops....

eom

[Straight Shooter]

11. Do we know anything about the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association?

Maybe they are the good guys.

Nice to see this story getting coverage. Irony of ironies when New York's finest infringes on the rights of New York's finest.

[Stephanie]

23. They're the union, I think

http://nycpba.org/index-flash.html

[Straight Shooter]

26. Thanks, Stephanie.

I guess that only adds to the reason they were being harassed.

[Canuckistanian]

12. I hope this gets all cops thinking

No one is excepted. No-One.

[oscarmitre]

18. Cops don't get it.

They just don't get that they as individuals don't matter. I wish this was a wake-up call but I suspect it isn't. They are upset when their tactics are turned on them but when they're using the tactics it's all okay.

The PBA by the way represents only Patrol Officers (not supervisors, detectives, Lts and above, all of whom have their own associations). I don't know much about their political affiliations, if any, but most cops are conservative in political terms even though some of their unions/associations are more progressive.

Anyway the irony works for me.

[AX10]

13. Irony of Ironies.

[Stephanie]

24. Can you believe it?

Unbelievable. Just weeks later we were marching past these same cops, who had us penned behind chain link fencing, three deep concrete barriers, and rows and rows of cops in full riot gear with machine guns. They have some nerve. If you wanted to know what marshall law looks like you only had to be in Manhattan in August 2004. It was unbelievable.

[0rganism]

14. Has The Onion gone out of business yet?

Really, I don't see what role they have anymore. Reality has gotten far wackier than anything to come forth from their satire.

[NYC]

15. What goes around comes around.

?

[KarenS]

16. Great Story !!

It is good that the union protesters were subjected to this.
I hope they win their case.

[High Plains]

17. Har-de-har-har

Seriously, this spying shit is getting ridiculous.

[tecelote]

20. Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

A half truth.

[alkaline9]

21. With lurking threats of a police state, I'm not surprised...

...that some policemen DO NOT agree with these policies. I mean there's a heck of a lot of police out there doing their best to keep us all safe... its no surprise that at least some would be on the liberal side of things.

[bettyellen]

22. oh, the irony.

[Stephanie]

25. incredible

Too bad they didn't throw some of them into Guantanamo on the Hudson.

[lovuian]

27. They don't call them New Yorks finest for nothing!!!

Love them!!!

[AX10]

30. kick

:kick:

[stickdog]

28. The police state they don't want a police state. (nt)

[LibertyorDeath]

29. Gawd that's rich

"Now the officers, through their union, are suing the city, charging that the police procedures at their demonstrations — many of them routinely used at war protests, antipoverty marches and mass bike rides — were so heavy-handed and intimidating that their First Amendment rights were violated...."

Doesn't matter the group that's protesting the money is
always on the other side...always.