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Just Us Voicing Our Concerns to Santa Cruz's Public Safety Committee

by ~Bradley (bradley [at] riseup.net)
On February 13th, Just Us and the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra held a press conference and rally to call attention to Santa Cruz Police Department spying and their investigation clearing themselves of any wrongdoing. Police Auditor Bob Aaronson's rejection of the results of the SCPD’s investigation of its own behavior set the tone for the meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the Santa Cruz City Council. The Committee stated that they were not going to make any decisions until they had a chance to review the forthcoming (in 30 days) report from Bob Aaronson. People were then allowed three minutes to comment on police profiling and infiltration of community meetings and homes.
spying_2-13-06.jpg
§SCPD Officers Checks Out the Rally
by ~Bradley (bradley [at] riseup.net)
scpd_2-13-06.jpg
§Section 610 - Undercover Operations
by ~Bradley (bradley [at] riseup.net)
610_2-13-06.jpg
trashorch_2-13-06.jpg
Right after the Trash Orchestra played, the word came out that the SCPD Investigation was found to 'flawed for obvious reasons.'
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Grant was an un-organizer of the Last Night Parade and performs with Santa Cruz Art and Revolution
robert_2-13-06.jpg
Robert Norse organizes with Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom
john_2-13-06.jpg
John published this on Santa Cruz Indymedia:

e: Mayor Cynthia Matthews on SCPD Spying
http://santacruz.indymedia.org/mod/comments/display/23936/index.php
chris_2-13-06.jpg
This is the article Christopher is talking about:

Police investigation clears undercover SC officers who attended New Year's parade meetings
http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1801739.php
david_2-13-06.jpg
David says that he attends about a half dozen meetings where people are working to change the system
mark_2-13-06.jpg
The CPRB was the Citizens' Police Review Board. The CPRB was supposedly cut to "save money." However, the CPRB was all volunteer... and now the city pays a Police Auditor, Bob Aaronson.
bob_2-13-06.jpg
Bob is involved with the Human Rights Organization
§Rico, Grant and Sherry Say No Spying
by ~Bradley (bradley [at] riseup.net)
rgs_2-13-06.jpg
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by sherry
Indymedia is doing a great job covering this - thank you so much

and if a picture is worth a thousand words, we must be up over the 1 million mark by now! - the photos are just great!!

it's time for a good ol' fashioned Town Hall Meeting!

sherry
by Robert Norse
This is a great sequence of photos, which both supports the (relatively few) activists who showed up and tells the story. Thanks, Bradley.

Some uneven audio of the Public Safety Committee's doings and public testimony can be found at http://www.santacruzcopwatch.org/robert/brb060216.mp3

More of the same will be broadcast on Sunday February 19 and archived at http://www.huffsantacruz.org under "Bathrobespierre's Broadsides".
by Becky Johnson
Our SCPD police dept. has a whole undercover unit called CNET which doesn't walk a beat, patrol and area, or answer 911 calls. Instead, they go undercover, infiltrate groups, and organize stings.

Their purpose is to fight drugs in Santa Cruz, but they end up arresting people for tiny amounts of marijuana at huge public expense. They don't have the oversight they need, especially since then-Mayor Reilly dissolved the Citizens Police Review Board.

We can't afford this program anymore. Its too expensive to operate. It's work is questionable in terms of the public good it does. And it goes against how most of the people in Santa Cruz want the drug war waged.

The police dept. budget in Santa Cruz is 33% of the general fund. As our City is going bankrupt, the CNET program should be one of the first cuts to be made.

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