The Love Police AZ: Chalking the Police 2011

Sometimes you need just need to step back and listen when the people have something to say - especially the youth.

This awesome video was composed and put up on YouTube by thelovepolicearizona.

Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us...

Fight state violence: Phoenix Copwatch training April 2.

"Abolish the police"
International Day Against Police Brutality
AZ State Capitol / March 15, 2011

PHOENIX COPWATCH TRAINING – 4/2/11


WHEN:

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
1PM-5

WHERE:

The Firehouse 1015 N. 1st St. in Phoenix (just north of Roosevelt)

Are you interested in joining Phoenix Copwatch? If so, now is the time to join. We patrol the streets to monitor police activity, organize events against police brutality, and educate the public about their rights during police encounters. Anyone (besides law enforcement) can join. All you have to do is attend one of our trainings. If you have any questions, please call 602-337-7188, or email phoenix_copwatch@yahoo.com.


Copwatch Principles

· The struggle against police brutality is a struggle against racism

We believe that police brutality is widespread in our communities and that much of it is directly related to the long history of white supremacy in this country. Therefore, we consider the struggle against police brutality to be a struggle against racism.

· Copwatch opposes all forms of oppression

Copwatch is opposed to all forms of oppression even though we are organized to focus on the fight against police abuse. We believe the police mistreat people based on real or perceived ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability.

· The goal of Copwatch is to observe and record the police

We monitor police activity when they interrogate people on the streets, and we offer assistance to victims of police abuse when we can.

· Copwatch does not provoke confrontations with the police.

We do support the principle of self-defense against police attacks.

· Copwatch is an independent organization

We don't work with any law enforcement agencies, government agencies, or political parties.

For more information about Phoenix Copwatch, visit www.phoenixcopwatch.org

Policing the Police: Next week's COPWATCH training

Hey all: here's the info for the training on the 28th, before the racial-profiling activities planned by Arpaio and the MCSO once SB 1070 goes into effect. We really need people to turn out for the trainings so you can come on patrol on the 30th. If you can't make it this weekend, head out to this one next week. It's a good training with great people and it's a way to really make a difference. Showing up with your own video camera is a bonus, but you don't have to be out there shooting any deputies - you just need to be diplomatic and take good notes.

After you're done with the training, come join us at Civic Space Park (424 N. Central Ave, where the New Fair Trade Cafe is) - we'll be having a rally to gear up for the 29th.

See you out there.

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Phoenix Copwatch

If you can't be there, or if you're already trained, please share this with anyone who might possibly be interested! We need dozens of volunteers for that day.

"Policing the Police" Training

Location:

Phoenix Friends Meeting House
(Also the locale for Fiddler's Dream Coffee House)
1702 E Glendale Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85020

Time:

7:00PM
Wednesday, July 28th

PHX COPWATCH Training coming up

Phoenix Copwatch

This training will be on a Saturday afternoon to accommodate folks who couldn't make the weekday trainings. Please spread this far and wide. And if you can't make this one, there will still be one on July 28th.

"Policing the Police" Training #3

Location:

Unlimited Potential
6520 S Central
Phoenix, Arizona 85040

Time:

2:00PM
Saturday, July 24th

Look what Copwatch just passed on...

The time seems right to indict...

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio investigated by grand jury, officials confirm
by JJ Hensley and Yvonne Wingett - Jan. 8, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Two Maricopa County executives said Thursday they will appear before a federal grand jury next week to testify about allegations that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and others in his office have abused their power.

County Manager David Smith and Deputy County Manager Sandi Wilson said they met with representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office on Wednesday to prepare for the grand jury.

Arpaio denied knowledge of the grand jury. "I'm not commenting about the grand jury or what's occurring," he said. "If people are saying it, let them say it. We're going to continue doing our job."

Federal grand juries composed of local residents meet in secret to hear testimony to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hold a trial.

Witnesses, however, are not prohibited from talking about the grand jury, which uses subpoenas to gather evidence.

If the grand jury hands up an indictment, a trial would determine guilt or innocence.

Smith and Wilson are scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. They were told that their testimony may take several hours over several days. "We were told that we are now federal witnesses, and we will be protected," Wilson said.

Based on their discussions with the U.S. Attorney's Office, Smith said the grand jury appears to be focusing on a variety of issues.

Among them are budget negotiations, the county's courthouse project, deputies questioning county employees at their homes, threats of investigations of county employees, and a fight over a criminal-justice computer system.

"I'm certainly gratified that the system is starting to work, where this kind of abuse of power is looked into by a competent authority," Smith said. "A lot of people have suffered; now I think that from the U.S. attorney, with respect to Sheriff Arpaio, justice will be served."

The Justice Department announced last year it was also conducting a civil investigation into allegations of racial profiling against the Sheriff's Office.

Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix, the Department of Justice in Washington, D..C., and the FBI office in Phoenix would not comment on the grand jury.

Since at least May, county employees have regularly met with FBI officials about Arpaio and allegations of misuse of power, according to Republic sources interviewed by federal agents.

However, sources said Thursday it's unclear if the grand jury is a result of those conversations.

Over the past year, county leaders have fought over money and authority.

The fights originated among top officials at the county, the Sheriff's Office and the County Attorney's Office but have recently enveloped midlevel employees in other departments..... (hit the AZ Republican for the rest)

Chaparral: No Borders or Prison Walls

This is a recent post from one of my favorite valley bloggers on immigration - I was just going to put part of it here and make you retrieve the rest, but it breaks the flow, so read the whole thing here or there - in any event, check out her blog. I subscribe. Here's the lead-in:

Chaparral respects no borders

Based in Maricopa County, I mostly analyze the news and the activism and organizing around immigration. Often discussing Sheriff Joe Arpaio, legislators like Russell Pearce, the police in general, as well as federal players, I touch on racism, abuse, and other injustices. I have a heavy emphasis on truly having solidarity with migrants and pushing for the movement to not lose sight of this focus.

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Here's the post for 11/23/09:
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What Happens When Arpaio Serves the Warrants

Because Sheriff Arpaio has been targeting migrants who are just driving, waiting for work, or working, activists have reacted by pointing out that the sheriff has not been serving 40,000 open warrants. Now the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department is serving warrants... in Guadalupe.

As an example of the focus on warrants, a press release from no specific organization but about "Leaders from the civil rights and Latino communities" came out in March 2008 saying,

The people are entitled to have a true lawman for Sheriff, someone who goes after real criminals, not gardeners, cooks, nannies and pregnant mothers. America’s “toughest sheriff” must stop making mothers and fathers disappear in the middle of the night, callously leaving vulnerable, terrorized children at home alone. He can turn a new leaf and start protecting the public by serving the county’s 70,000 arrest warrants that he has allowed to remain outstanding.

If you went to a protest against Arpaio in 2008 or early 2009, you likely would've seen a reference to the warrants on some signs. Often they would be referenced by groups such as the Maricopa Citizens for Safety and Accountability. While the warrants have been discussed very little since the Senate hearing on the issue, you will occasionally still hear the warrants brought up.

What I don't understand is the assumption that these warrants are justified- that all the people who have warrants out for their arrest, or perhaps all the people with felony warrants, are hardened criminals who all deserve to go to Tent City. Do you really believe this? Do you think the criminal "justice" system is infallible? Are not undocumented migrants being further criminalized for political/racist/economic reasons? Isn't that fundamental to the criminal "justice" system? There is much evidence that the police are used to keep people in check and to maintain the social hierarchy. In many ways, the police actually perpetuate the crimes of those who do not have access to many of the opportunities that more privilege people have. And as I write in Chaparral: No Borders or Prison Walls:

Many examples exist of ways in which crime-fighting is not, in fact, intended to end the activities which are considered crimes. The government has no interest in ending crime unless it is targeted towards the government itself, the rich or their property. One could list a number of crimes committed by people who get away with it everyday, and a number of acts that should be crimes because they hurt people, other beings, and/or the planet, yet they are not crimes because it is not in the interest of the government to control those actions. Crimes against people who are seen as less valuable are not important to enforce unless it benefits the system in another way... Crimes committed by government, government agents, businesses, are treated differently, with the perpetrators facing much less harsh punishment than their civilian counter-parts face, if any. Often crimes are enabled by involvement with the government such as the drug trafficking done with government vehicles and physical and sexual abuse by police, border patrol, and prison officials, yet the criminals in these cases are treated as a few bad apples.

And why does it not occur to folks that many of those warrants might be for gardeners, cooks, nannies and pregnant mothers who might disappear at night leaving their children terrorized?

And if you agree with nothing else I've said so far about the problems with the rule of law, please realize that you are basically saying that if the sheriff was serving all those warrants, then he would be doing a good job- Tent City, pink underwear, chain gangs, green baloney and all.

Indeed, I have brought up that Arpaio has in fact not been doing as efficient of a job at arresting migrants- other police departments have- yet they don't have this warrants issue hanging over their heads. In fact, they are mostly ignored and in some cases even seen as allies (phoenix pd officers are invited to activist meetings, ex-mesa police chief gascon was celebrated for standing up against arpaio) yet, as i've written in the past, If Phx and Mesa PD are arresting more immigrants, why is focus on Arpaio?

I would say that the myth of the infallibility of law and order is not questioned, for the most part, for to do so would make you vulnerable to attacks by the other side, accusing you of wanting chaos, or whatever else they associate with opposing arrests of so-called criminals. Too many immigrants' advocates are not willing to be outspoken about the racist nature of "criminal justice" and law enforcement, the border, and immigration law in general. The result, therefore, is that law enforcement that can appear reasonable alongside arpaio's media circuses are not to be questioned, but instead even applauded, even if their actual effect is worse than how arpaio's efforts appear.

This past week, the sheriff's department has been bringing a camera crew to stops all over Guadalupe to serve warrants. Guadalupe is a very small town next to Tempe, with a very high number of brown skinned people- mostly Yaquis and Mexican migrants. Arpaio has done a few sweeps there. It is one of a few places in the County that doesn't have it's own police department and pays the MCSO to handle problems. Instead, they've caused many problems. You can read all about it in Guadalupe made it clear that Joe Arpaio’s attacking anyone with brown skin, Joe Arpaio Returns to Guadalupe, with an Army of Deputies to Watch His Back, The MCSO Retaliates Against a Guadalupe Activist.

In fact, this might be retaliation for the copwatching going on in Guadalupe. Whatever the reason, people are being harassed and terrorized by Arpaio serving these warrants. Those who have demanded that the warrants be served are not to be blamed for those warrants being served in Guadalupe (or anywhere) necessarily, but it is necessary to keep all these things in perspective.

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Posted By chaparral to Chaparral respects no borders at 11/23/2009 11:36:00 AM