General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOakland police: We had no idea CHP officers dressed as protesters
Last edited Thu Dec 18, 2014, 12:07 PM - Edit history (2)
Although California Highway Patrol officials said they had planted plainclothes officers within recent demonstrations in Oakland and Berkeley with the approval of the cities respective police departments, Oakland police officials said Wednesday that they were unaware that the CHP had undercover officers within their jurisdiction the night one pulled a gun on protesters after his partner was attacked.
The CHP was criticized last week when two plainclothes officers, who were dressed as protesters with bandannas over their faces, were identified by others in a crowd of about 50 near Lake Merritt around 11:30 p.m. Dec. 10.
When authorities and witnesses said one of the protesters took a hat from an officer and punched him in the head, the second officer pulled out a baton, and then a gun, which he pointed at the protesters and panned across the crowd to keep them away from him and his partner.
Avery Browne, chief of CHPs Golden Gate Division, defended the officers actions and said the agency has had plainclothes officers at these demonstrations since they began Nov. 24, to gather information that would prevent protesters from entering and blocking freeways, a core tactic of the movement against racial injustice and police brutality.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-police-We-had-no-idea-CHP-officers-5964457.php
Cop is so gangster the way he holds his gun.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)butterfly77
(17,609 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)eridani
(51,907 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Iggo
(47,558 posts)Obvious ones, too.
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)accountable for their inbred culture of violence and stupidity.
bluedigger
(17,086 posts)Somebody needs to lose their job, either for lying, or incompetence.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)These guys are probanly part of the fusion center an interagency circle jerk.
KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)law enforcement agency.) AFAIK, dead silence thus far from the Governor's Office.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)The "loudest and most chaotic ones" at the forum.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)airc, and followed them, later saw them entering a federal bldg.
Hard to hide that 'cop' attitude.
I assume all the disrupters at peaceful protests ARE cops. Funny how the worst disrupters never get arrested, they break things, then vanish into the darkness. We noticed that at OWS over and over again. Walking on the sidewalk got you arrested, setting fires, no arrests.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)There are likely several hundred thousand informants in the United States. In some ways they are worse as they are bound by 0 rules.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)This is awesome, but I have a post with an axe to grind right now, so it belongs with a person with some positivity:
https://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/12/15/black-staff-faculty-stage-silent-protest-at-sproul/
I wish I had known about that ahead of time: I could have actually gone to show my respect for that one.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)daredtowork
(3,732 posts)It took the OPD a WEEK to come up with the idea that they didn't know about plainclothes (undercover) CHP officers infiltrating the protests.
It must have taken that long to hire a PR "crisis" person! I wonder how much their consulting fee is?
By the way, I was walking a few blocks behind this, and I encountered another apparent undercover cop who was reporting on the direction the stream of protesters were going via cellphone. It was a very long stream since the protesters had been marching rapidly from Berkeley to Oakland for several days in a row, and they had a tendency to leave slower folks (like me) way behind along the way.
countryjake
(8,554 posts)I've found this month that I can't keep up with the protests either. And lots of scurrying activity goes on way behind the crowd. Suspicious piggish-looking fellas with determined looks on their faces, dressed like ordinary people.
The militarized-cops "recon" is obvious, but their infiltrators within a demo are not so easy to identify.
It used to be all we had to do was look at their shoes to spot one, nowadays that bulge of a gun on the back, abnormally weighty pocket, or radio communication noises give them away.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)And I mentioned it in a post of mine, and I brought it up in a couple of comments where people were questioning the presence of undercover cops. I personally didn't feel threatened by the one I saw - I thought it was funny because he was so obvious. But then again he probably didn't realize I was one of the protesters since I was about a mile behind everyone else.
I just attempted to join another small one, and I fell so far behind that I got paced by the "hanging far behind" police vehicle *both ways*!
While I was there, I so no attempts to disperse the protest, even though we were walking in the middle of traffic, and every other chant was "Fuck the Police!" (Not one of my faves, since that doesn't exactly lead to solutions.)
Protest parked in front of Oakland Police HQ. I was kind of hoping for some strong symbolic action there, but I guess there wasn't enough people. The leaders of the march gave their speech, some cars that passed by honked in support, and then we marched back to City Hall.
Disappointed that I'm never on the spot when the awesome stuff happens.
Rex
(65,616 posts)There should be laws against it.
suffragette
(12,232 posts)And all on our dime.