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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPolice Departments Retaliate Against Organized "Cop Watch" Groups Across the US
(Truthout) When communities attempt to police the police, they often get, well... policed.
In several states, organized groups that use police scanners and knowledge of checkpoints to collectively monitor police activities by legally and peacefully filming cops on duty have said they've experienced retaliation, including unjustified detainment and arrests as well as police intimidation.
The groups operate under many decentralized organizations, most notably CopWatch and Cop Block, and have proliferated across the United States in the last decade - and especially in the aftermath of the events that continue to unfold in Ferguson, Missouri, after officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed, black teenager Michael Brown.
Many such groups have begun proactively patrolling their communities with cameras at various times during the week, rather than reactively turning on their cameras when police enter into their neighborhoods or when they happen to be around police activity.
Across the nation, local police departments are responding to organized cop watching patrols by targeting perceived leaders, making arrests, threatening arrests, yanking cameras out of hands and even labeling particular groups "domestic extremist" organizations and part of the sovereign citizens movement - the activities of which the FBI classifies as domestic terrorism. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/26527-police-departments-retaliate-against-organized-cop-watch-groups-across-the-us
mokawanis
(4,455 posts)they just hate that. Doing things by the book and following the laws just isn't how they prefer to operate.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)billhicks76
(5,082 posts)These people know they have done wrong and that evil pervades their line of work but instead of doing the right think they try and label truth tellers terrorists. Even white conservative grandmothers are turning against them and they can only blame themselves. If they persist in biting the hand that feeds them I really wonder what they think will happen eventually.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)This shit shows their real attitude toward the people. We don't have the right to protection from bad cops? They are protecting their own ...knowing full well the corruption of their own. Sure we will report bad cops to ....bad cops. This shit amounts to a conspiracy to conceal criminal behavior.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)As in "If we don't nip this in the bud now, we NEVER will".
gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)you have to be a sick fucker to be a cop. The only reasons one becomes a pig is to be on an authority kick or shoot people they don't like!
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)EOM
Elmer S. E. Dump
(5,751 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)me b zola
(19,053 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)librechik
(30,678 posts)here's 3
snip
Protection Obsession
Fascists are obsessed with national security and protection. Often, they will use these as the reasons for any type of military intervention, whether or not it is warranted. By making people believe that their safety is at risk, fascists can more easily recruit individuals into their party, and make others believe in their cause.
Blind Patriotism
Blind patriotism is an early concept espoused by fascists. They ask their supporters to believe that only a select group of people (those with characteristics chosen by the fascists) are worthy of protection. Fascists demand that members of their party unquestioningly follow this line of reasoning without fail.
Silencing of Dissenters
Finally, fascists seek to silence dissenters, usually by non-violent methods at first. They can force individuals out of their jobs, or positions of power, in which they espouse a point of view that is different from that of the fascists.
snip
Read more : http://www.ehow.com/info_8074761_early-warning-signs-fascism.html
yuiyoshida
(41,869 posts)7962
(11,841 posts)Harder to squash the monitoring when its an army watching you. Good luck to all of them. Stay out of the cops way and do everything by the book. No confrontations. But keep up the good work!!
Thanks for this, marmar.
And this I will say to the pigs: "If you was doing your jobs in a civil manner, nobody would be watching you."
valerief
(53,235 posts)which breaks more laws than it protects.
CaptainTruth
(6,615 posts)I must say I'm glad to see more people standing up, video recording, & perhaps most important, filing civil rights lawsuits.
The only way we can make this stop is by fighting back. Hold cops accountable for their actions.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)A lot are simply Libertarians, but many of them are Sovereign Citizens.
Go on Youtube and watch a few of the CopWatch videos, then check out the individuals posting them. You'll find lots of Libertarians, and that's fine, but if you listen to some of them it's clear they are expressing Sovereign Citizen ideology.
Sovereign Citizens murder cops.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Gotcha.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)But the backlash against cops is coming, and it isn't going to be pretty.
I don't approve of cop killling, but I do understand the anger and frustration towards cops.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)You tacitly gave your approval of the Sovereign Citizen movement, a movement noted as the single most dangerous domestic terrorist threat in the US currently, in your post.
Seriously, there is a percentage of the cop watch movement that are terrorists. There is no other word to use for them. Those who are of a libertarian bent need to disavow themselves of the Sovereign Citizens, or else they are going to be lumped in with them.
The issue of out of control cops is separate and can be dealt with without resorting to violence.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)that's just your misreading of my post, so, that makes it your problem, not mine.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)In the context of a response to my post, I could perceive it no other way.
You may want to edit to make it clear you do not support Sovereign Citizens.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)if you misinterpreted it, that's on you, not me.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)You justified that by stating cops murder citizens.
Your response was a direct justification for Sovereign Citizens murdering cops.
There was no misinterpretation on my part. Further discussion with you has only reinforced that.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)I didn't justify anything, I made an observation that you Choose to misinterpret.
sibelian
(7,804 posts)You are engaging in the magic dance of "You implied", "No you inferred!". It's worthless. Accept what your opponent says at face value or you're just wasting everyone's time.
sibelian
(7,804 posts)No, actually you just need to learn to read.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)I never want to see a police officer shot and killed or wounded and for that poster to accuse me of wanting that is just ludicrous.
frylock
(34,825 posts)FIFY
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)I cannot truck anybody who would justify the worst domestic terrorists in the US.
frylock
(34,825 posts)glad we could see eye-to-eye on that.
Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)Thank goodness you can just make shit up and claim they said it, and then try to argue against that instead.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)sibelian
(7,804 posts)It's just plain silly. Substantial numbers of people here, of a particular stripe, indulge in nothing more than perpetual re-interpretation of plain English into anything they like.
ncjustice80
(948 posts)gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,029 posts)Good thing these folks are staying up with them:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/sovereign-citizens-movement
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Otherwise the Federal agencies will simply lump them together.
Response to MohRokTah (Reply #15)
CreekDog This message was self-deleted by its author.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Sovereign Citizens are the most dangerous domestic terrorists in the United States.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)It is not about politics all the time...here it is about violation of our constitutional rights...that is the problem.
But if you can discredit a fight for our rights with a simple thing like association of some of it's supporters then you can do it with anything...and nothing will change but get worse.
It's time to stop that...start judging it on it's merits not on who is for or against it.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Gotcha.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Because some of his supporters and activist were?...and so the Civil rights movement should not have been supported?
No no, keep your eyes on the prize...and the prize is our constitutional rights...don't let yourself be blinded by political dichotomy.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Look at the damned videos. At a minimum, 1 out of every 3 of these "activists" are Sovereign Citizens.
That makes the entire movement a terrorist movement regardless. Yes, the cops suck. Yes, the cops are out of control. Responding via cop killing only makes matters worse, and the fucks involved with this CopWatch shit lost all credibility by being aligned with terrorists.
If they got rid of the Sovereign Citizens in their ranks, they'd have credibility. Because they choose to align with terrorists, that makes them terrorists and I have no sympathy for their shit.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)And as long as it is, that credibility can be attacked with lies, half truths, and even the truth...and you can do that with anyone or any organization.
And that can be used to destroy any movement, and is often done by the way
MLK was called a communist...and at least one third of his organization was probably suspected of being communist...and Hover used that.
But MLK had studied Gandhi and knew to keep your eyes on the prize.
So the best way to turn off some Democrats to it is to associate it with a right winger...if they are for it we must be against it...and the right wing does the same thing with us, so nothing ever changes because there is always two sides to the story and you must pick one and ignore the fact that we are getting screwed out of our rights by all of this shit.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)And what is the criteria?
Is it those that kill for ideological reasons? Like the police seem to be doing lately?
Labeling people is inherently dangerous.
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)"Those that kill for ideological reasons" is not the definition of a terrorist, or even close to it.
We pay the police, and the armed forces, to sometimes kill people for ideological reasons; that ideology being "to keep innocent people safe".
Labelling people & things is the basis of all thought and communication, and should be encouraged, not discouraged. The problem is labelling people inaccurately or misleadingly.
freefaller62
(30 posts)If the citizens are accountable to the law, the law must reciprocate.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Skittles
(153,261 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)That is the question.
Am I to think that I see a right winger, a gun nut, a radical right wing nut, and so I am to be against what they are for?...or for what they are against?
If a libertarian, a gun nut or a racist nut job is on the side of justice or truth am I to be on the side of tyranny and lies?
If so, you give them a powerful tool to continue the injustice and the lies...a tool which has been used throughout history to manipulate people...from the civil right era to Occupy to today, and I for one will not be blinded by it.
OK, done here......waste of time
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)They aren't breaking the law by filming cops and officers have no right to interfere in their filming.
If they break the law and murder a cop then you can arrest them. Just as you can arrest anyone that murders any other citizen.
I really don't understand your point.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Skittles
(153,261 posts)the Dallas Observer has them as their cover story this week
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2014/10/the_cop_watchers_chasing_and_trolling_police_in_the_name_of_liberty.php
Sparhawk60
(359 posts)Cops murder us on a regular basis.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Check out the TSA watch videos as well those are even better-
sibelian
(7,804 posts)EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)You could go there, click on any state and city--and find officers. You could report your experiences with them--positive, negative and neutral.
It was a pretty busy site until the police fought against it, saying that it put officers in danger.
Police officers should be held accountable and scrutinized. They have power. They have weapons. The public should be able to speak freely about their experiences with these public servants.
zinnisking
(405 posts)The site is still there, sort of.
When I tried to navigate by clicking my state on the map, the whole site crashed:
DB function failed with error number 145
Table './ratemyco_rmclivedb/jos_session' is marked as crashed and should be repaired SQL=SELECT session_id FROM jos_session WHERE session_id =
I could delete cookies to get the homepage to load again but it won't do any good if I can't browse the site.
jmowreader
(50,580 posts)This is not "valiant citizen videotapes cop murdering Michael Brown." It's more like "spoiled 22-year-old punks having fun talking shit to the police."
They do one of two things: do something that attracts the interest of the cops like not wearing their seat belts, or use their scanners to find a crime scene then inject themselves into it. And then they video themselves haranguing the cops. "You have to give us three forms of ID to prove you're cops" (do cops even carry three forms of ID?) is commonly uttered by these guys.
Yes, the cops are retaliating...because what the "cop watch" and "cop block" groups are doing is fucking bullshit.
R.Quinn
(122 posts)I will gladly concede that some of these kids are just being punks to the cops, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The point of this is accountability, and the cops are never above being accountable to the citizenry. There are plenty of other examples of cops being the undeniable aggressors in these situations.
Logical
(22,457 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)This is a terrorist movement, plain and simple. The Libertarians involved with it refuse to disavow the Sovereign Citizens involved with it. That makes them no better than the Sovereign Citizens.
jmowreader
(50,580 posts)I've been thinking: if you wanted to commit a crime and you wanted the cops as far away from that crime as possible, sending out seven or eight cop-blockers to detain the cops as long as possible would do it.
CaptainTruth
(6,615 posts)... so I guess you think the Democratic party is effin BS? Some members of the Democratic party have been convicted of crimes, so does that make all Democrats criminals? Some protesters in Ferguson looted, so is it fair for you to say all Ferguson protesters are looters?
Just pointing out that I think you're painting with an overly broad brush. SOME members of those groups do those things, not ALL members.
jmowreader
(50,580 posts)And Cop Block, Cop Watch et al are full of people whose obsession is stirring up shit and videoing it.
Take this wonderful video:
Synopsis: a man walks around the courthouse with a rifle at sling arms until the police stop him, then starts quoting the Constitution.
Can you think of one justifiable reason to just walk around the courthouse with a rifle?
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Cop Block and Filming Cops have informative Facebook pages. Like them.
malthaussen
(17,230 posts)And here's another one for you: the evil-doer doth fear the light.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few years. The police have never before been in the position of being truly accountable. I figure Steps Will Be Taken to remove from the hands of the average citizen the ability to freely record officialdom. It would take only one easy law to make it illegal to put cameras in phones.
-- Mal
ProfessorGAC
(65,337 posts)That ship has sailed. There is no way a law like that would pass. The big money people run those telcom firms and phone makers. Anything that pisses their customers off is not going to be something that will happen, because they won't let it.
Not gonna happen without a time machine.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)where police don't have to obey the law, they ARE the law. Often times they are judge, jury and executioner as well.
CaptainTruth
(6,615 posts)I have not actively worked to become their enemy, they have actively worked to become my enemy. I have not murdered & abused those I swore to protect & serve, then arrogantly raised my middle middle finger at justice, it is they who have done those vile deeds.
If they didn't behave like out of control bullies on the playground, they wouldn't need to be watched like children who are about to misbehave at any moment.
gopiscrap
(23,766 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)frylock
(34,825 posts)TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)chock full of open carry activist wingnuts.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)Last edited Sat Oct 4, 2014, 01:45 AM - Edit history (1)
I'm not seeing any.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)Watch any of their videos? Most of them are open carry people. It's pretty common knowledge. Oh, and I don't think your comment is relevant to my discussion.
Whatever.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Watch their damned videos. The first two or three I watched months and months ago made me fell great, then I sunk into the pit of the Sovereign Citizens. They are terrorists. More than a third of the videos out there are by sovereign citizens. That makes CopWatch a terrorist movement by definition.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)Are all of us on DU that support filming officers terrorists too?
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)You might want to check the USA PAtriot Act.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)That piece of shit law pushed through by GWB? Why do you like GWB?
See how that works? You did the same thing to me upthread.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)But like you, I have to suffer under the consequences of the law being passed within hours of a terrorist attack with no member of Congress being bothered to read the thing.
So, there's number 1,487 of the reasons why the USA PATRIOT Act should be repealed.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)Unfortunately they also abuse their power to shoot out the light.....
I think it's about time that cops are answerable the public they police.
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)self-serving army, arbiters of justice, eager to use violent force, inflating any perceived risk as a risk to their own life. People are becoming cops who are filled with hate, able to use their power to attack groups of people they hate.
The result is just more violence and more hate. If we started today, it would take several generations to undo the damage our police state has caused in the last 20 years.
Holding police accountable for their bad behavior is where we need to start.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Phlem
(6,323 posts)Time to ratchet it up. Before the flames hit, I've had my run in's and my experience has been 90 % dicks 10 % normal. And no I don't back talk to cops.
niyad
(113,777 posts)hide?" or some such nonsense.
what is "true" for us. . .
TheVisitor
(173 posts)Thanks for posting this, this is definitely NOT part of sovereign citizens terrorism! This is simply people enacting their first amendment and 14th amendment rights and it needs to be as public as possible so we can keep these cowards who are abusing people in check... it's not about the Cop Watchers breaking the law, it's about THE COPS breaking the law and needing to be held accountable for it by the judicial process!
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Until you do, you can wallow in your self gratification over "people putting one over the man".
This is a terrorist movement so long as they refuse to disavow the SC portion of the movement, and it is huge.
TheVisitor
(173 posts)do you have of this?
TheVisitor
(173 posts)extreme and unnecessary, and this guy identifies himself as being sovereign, which is completely out of scope with what the article was written about... i know 'sovereign citizens' and they are absolutely batsheet crazy for the most part like this guy, just rambling on about random stuff and how laws don't apply to them...
first amendment applies to all... people are allowed, by law, to record and photograph police at a reasonable distance as long as they aren't imposing on them completing their job duties/enforcing the law... for example, with mike brown, the video recordings truly did help give a better perspective as to what really happened...
there is a distinct difference between this guy, with his endless excuses and proclaiming he is the government, and people who simply want to record the police in action to ensure the safety of others and fair judicial process is followed...
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Go watch the videos. At first I felt empowered and thought "FUCK YEAH!", then I started seeing Sovereign Citizen Video after Sovereign Citizen Video. That's what soured me on this because NOBODY in CopWatch will disavow these terrorists.
TheVisitor
(173 posts)There is a distinct difference between the two organizations, even completely different websites...
CopWatchNYC is one example of the real CopWatch...
CopWatchNYC
Sovereign CopWatch Video:
Sovereign Copwatch
Video has a bus in it with a link to sovereigncopwatch.com which is inactive... but this popped up:
Sovereign CopWatch Facebook
Also, here is the archived version of their website .com address, to get a better idea of the difference between the two:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100821220428/http://sovereigncopwatch.ning.com/
Seems like two completely different entities to me, one adopted the sovereign part in front of their name... which I think was of their own doing and they may be a more extremist branch trying to piggyback off of a legitimately peaceful movement...
Anyway, just because an organization has the same word in it, even though their names are entirely different and they hold completely different websites and different motivations.. I don't think it is fair to clump them all together into one movement or agenda... The people in Copwatch who recorded police brutality/murder are not the same ones who are going around breaking the laws with the SC... and it seems like some kind of tactic to lump them all together so that anyone who wants to record the police is being labeled as a terrorist and can then have their rights revoked... It is unfair to punish legitimate citizens wishing to record what is actually happening because of the actions of some extremist non-citizens who have 'revoked their citizenship' as they proclaim...
You know, that's how they punished us in the military - if one did wrong, we all suffered, but I don't agree with that tactic here and I believe it is unwarranted to instantaneously criminalize anyone with a recording device because some people choose to be harassing or break the law and use it as a free pass...
That is like taking everyone's driver's license away just because of the jackasses who drink and drive... Each of these people is entitled to their own experience of innocent until proven guilty.. and honestly, one of these (the Sovereign Citizens) has a battle patch reminiscent of the one's used by the military for Spec OPs... that is a red flag right there and reveals a lot about their mentality, because they are attempting to 'overthrow'...
Just some background... the police as we know them today were formed by citizens in the 1600s standing 'watch', just as some of these people are doing in CopWatch...
History of the American Police Force:
The Early Days of American Law Enforcement - The Watch
U4ikLefty
(4,012 posts)I know a lot of people in Copwatch Los Angeles & none of them are right-wing nutjobs.
There is a difference. It's like when the right wing tries to paint Hitler as a Socialist because the name of the party has Socialist in the title.
Rex
(65,616 posts)IMO.
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)that I don't agree with that also advocate their rights. There is nothing wrong with them advocating their rights. Nothing in this video suggest otherwise and in fact, the officers in the video seem to agree.
bluestateguy
(44,173 posts)You all know that you'd be cheering them on loudly if the cop watchers were in the Occupy movement or Moral Monday.
If these folks are right wingers then all the better because it's about time we get the right to take police abuse of power seriously.
MohRokTah
(15,429 posts)Thanks for letting us know.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)I mean, after all, you approve of the Patriot Act.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025611384#post96
Man from Pickens
(1,713 posts)don't take kindly to getting Yelp reviews from slaves
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)how can you be in favor of ISIS, Ebola and Osama bin laden?
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)to be a standardized national psychological evaluation as a prerequisite for police work.
Rozlee
(2,529 posts)And police work is one of the top ten jobs they gravitate to. But, they're good at faking emotions and responses and snowing psych tests.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)If you want to see crime diminish, invest the saved money in education and economic development that creates jobs that provide an actual living.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)they do have alot to hide, that's why they don't want to be video'd.
strawberries
(498 posts)that is the same response I hear when I talk to others about NSA spying on us