The NYPD: Making New York Safer By Spying On Bicyclists, Relief Efforts And Republicans

from the let-the-circle-be-unbroken-severely-compromised dept

As more details continue to surface, the NYPD's activities are beginning to make the NSA's surveillance programs look like the paragon of restraint. We've already detailed how the NYPD (with help from a former CIA official) placed entire mosques under surveillance and infiltrated the Occupy movement.

Having effectively neutered the Handschu guidelines in 2003 (which placed severe restrictions on monitoring political activity), the NYPD was free to surveill all sorts of non-criminal, politically-focused gatherings.

So before and during the Iraq War, the organization of antiwar rallies was regarded as a fit matter for police surveillance; so were the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rallies, as well as groups protesting at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and a range of Islamic facilities, from mosques to college student clubs.
That's right. The NYPD cast its surveillance net over bicyclists. It also set its sights on the rescue/recovery efforts of Occupy Sandy, something that (perhaps due to it being a non-governmental effort) drew praise for its "nimble, effective work."

The PD's ongoing disregard for the civil liberties of New Yorkers (see also: stop-and-frisk) makes this news unsurprising. But it's worth noting that these spying efforts were ushered in by a former CIA officer who persuaded a judge to drop the limits governing the surveillance of political activities by playing the terrorist card shortly after the 9/11 attacks. If the NYPD is going to protect New Yorkers from future terrorist attacks, it's going to have to stop allocating resources to spy on non-terrorist, First Amendment-protected activities.

Then there's the problem with the undercover officers themselves. As we've seen in previous reports about undercover anti-terrorism work, many of the "plots" are crafted and propelled by undercover agents with minimal encouragement and involvement from their targets. How much trouble do these cops stir up just to maintain cover and justify their efforts?
One of the large, undiscussed questions of such surveillance is how civic dialogue can be influenced or distorted by police agents — perhaps as provocateurs, or possibly with no motive beyond maintaining cover. During the Republican convention, after a group making a film was arrested, a redheaded man standing on the street pounded on the back window of a police van, urging that the people inside be let go. A day later, the same man was videotaped being briefly put under a fake arrest, leading to tumult in the street from others who objected to his incarceration. They were unaware that the man was an undercover police officer who was walked down the street by uniformed officers, hands behind his back but uncuffed, and sent on his way: catch and release.
Like other efforts being made to make us "safer," these surveillance efforts lead to situations that are anything but. The widespread surveillance of non-terrorist, non-criminal entities both undermines the integrity of the infiltrated groups and actually leads to the commission of criminal activities that never would have been attempted if an NYPD officer wasn't there to instigate and encourage this behavior.


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Filed Under: nypd, ray kelly, surveillance


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  1. icon
    Ninja (profile), 15 Oct 2013 @ 9:52am

    Please stop calling them a police department or law enforcement and use the term that better describes them: militia. Not in any good meaning the word may have.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    gorehound (profile), 15 Oct 2013 @ 11:13am

    MYPD also shoots innocent bystanders and have been shown to do not once but multiple infringements just in one Year alone.
    And I have a huge dislike for that Ass Nanny Mayor.He is also a big part of this problem.NYPD were out of control and now..........they make their old infringements look like kindergarden stuff.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Oct 2013 @ 11:58am

    Re:

    MYPD also shoots innocent witnesses....

    FTFY

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Brazenly Anonymous, 15 Oct 2013 @ 1:39pm

    Re: Re:

    MYPD also shoots innocent bystanders


    MYPD also shoots innocent witnesses....


    NYPD also shoots innocent...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Oct 2013 @ 2:51pm

    Call it what it is...

    Entrapment.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Oct 2013 @ 5:33pm

    Just knowing that the NYPD is on top of this bicyclist gang uprising allows me to sleep well at night. Thank goodness.

    Have you read about that horrible bicyclist gang member that intentionally crashed into a fine young officer who was just trying to clear a path for potential motor vehicle traffic?
    Golly gee, what has this world come to. I think he was fired because someone had a video of the whole thing. This is another example of why recording is bad when done by those libraal commie notzees.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    Niall (profile), 16 Oct 2013 @ 4:05am

    Just like in the UK...

    Look at the horrible civil rights situation we have in the UK, where undercover cops spied on, and facilitated those evil terrorists - environmentalists!

    As if that weren't a bad enough abuse of civil liberties and a huge waste of taxpayer money, the undercover cops 'stole' the identities of dead babies - so when the families found out, they were understandably confused and distressed.

    And let's not get into them getting not only into relationships with women under false pretences, but getting them pregant... talk about (liberties) being raped by the state.

    So watch where you let your police (state) walk...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 6:07am

    Re: Call it what it is...

    Not sure how you are defining the word, but this isn't entrapment.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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