Guide to recording the police

By Alessandra Ram

It’s Your Right to Film the Police. These Apps Can Help

Police in riot gear push back on media and a crowd gathering in the street after a 10 p.m. curfew went into effect Thursday, April 30, 2015, in Baltimore. David Goldman/AP

On April 12 police in West Baltimore took 25-year-old Freddie Gray into custody, where he sustained a fatal spinal injury that led to his death. On Friday, the Maryland DA charged the six police officers involved with manslaughter, false imprisonment, and in the case of one officer, homicide. Since Gray’s death, the city of Baltimore has been at the center of renewed public outrage over the role of racial discrimination and violence in the criminal justice system, and specifically, fatal interactions between black residents and police officers.

And like the shooting death of Michael Brown by a policeman before this, and the choking death of Eric Garner before this, and most recently the murder of Walter Scott in South Carolina, justice in the case of Freddie Gray seems to hinge upon camera evidence from bystanders.

With smartphones, we the citizens have in our pockets the power to hold our government responsible.
Apps are cropping up to make it easier to videotape incidents like this. And organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and National Lawyers Guild are working to make sure we, the people with cameras in our hands, know our rights under the law.

First of all, it’s important to state up front that it is completely within a US citizen’s constitutional rights to record interactions with police officers, according to the ACLU. The EFF has created a guide for knowing your legal rights to digital property. Unless you are on private property, you have the right to photograph, film, or record anything in plain sight. Officers are not allowed to confiscate this material—or even search your cell phone—without a warrant.

Yet, law enforcement frequently confiscates these recordings, while harassing, detaining, and arresting those who fail to comply.

It is also true that if you film a crime, you may inadvertently become part of the investigation, and may become subject to attention from police yourself.

Take, for instance, the individual who filmed the choking of Eric Garner, Ramsey Orta. Orta has been in and out of Rikers since that tragic day. Speaking with VICE, Orta, who was friendly with Garner, decided to start documenting police misconduct in the summer of 2014 around his heavily-policed neighborhood of Staten Island. But since Garner’s death, Orta and his family allege that police have zeroed in on him, following close family members as well as his girlfriend. Police charged Orta with gun and drug possession as well as armed robbery. On April 6, the Free Thought Project wrote about Orta’s imprisonment. His case went viral, and soon a GoFundMe campaign had collected over $54,000 to free him. Orta was released on April 10.

If an individual is already marginalized in society, or lacks resources, the implications are huge: On Thursday, for instance, Mashable reported that police had arrested a transgender woman who was filming the Baltimore protests, and then forced her to stay in a male holding cell, remove her bra, and wear men’s clothing. Her bail is currently set at $100,000.

Apps for Witnesses

In 2012, the ACLU created an app that allowed anyone to film interactions between police and citizens and upload footage to the ACLU’s website. Similar apps have cropped up since then, with new features allowing for quick and automatic upload to the Cloud or to YouTube, in case of confiscation or destruction of your device.

Duncan Kirkwood’s app, “Hands Up 4 Justice,” allows people to discreetly record interactions with police officers during traffic stops, etc. The app integrates emergency contacts and GPS, uploads to YouTube or a Dropbox account, and is available for download in the iTunes store. Inspired by his own experience at a traffic stop, Kirkwood wanted to make it easier for people of color (who are disproportionately stopped by police on US highways) to record their interactions without fear of intimidation.

Inspired by Occupy Wall Street, “I’m Getting Arrested,” is a free Android app that instantly sends texts to emergency contacts that you’ve pre-programmed into your phone.

Other apps like “Swat,” “Five-O,” and “Stop and Frisk Watch” allow you to report police misconduct as well as educate yourself about your rights and connect with other users via community feeds. All of these were modeled after social justice movements like Occupy and Ferguson, but their founders developed them as a result of personal experience with police brutality.

Reports and recordings via apps like these, or stand-alone camera footage, might be the only piece of evidence to stand against an officer’s account of events. If it were not for that video of the fatal shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina, the officer might never have been charged with murder.

Occupy L.A. Demonstrators Win $2.5 Million Settlement for Brutal 2011 Police Crackdown

By Brad Friedman on 4/3/2015, 7:05am PT

That so-called "conservatives" cheered when L.A. police officials suddenly cleared the eight-week old Occupy encampment off the grounds of City Hall in 2011, will now cost the city some $2.5 million in settlement payments to the disrupted demonstrators.

The L.A. City Council, which had passed a resolution in support of the protesters in October of 2011, agreed to settle the lawsuit filed by a number demonstrators who said they were mistreated by police officials after then Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) ordered LAPD Chief Charlie Beck to clear the tents and peaceful demonstrators from the City Hall grounds.

As we reported at the time, after the space was cleared in a late night law enforcement offensive, hundreds of demonstrators were detained in poor conditions for hours on end, many handcuffed in buses without access to food, water or medicine. The excessive force and deplorable conditions were often brutal and, yes, bordered on torture. Some were forced to urinate and defecate in their seats during the hours of detention and faced other brutal and humiliating treatment at the hands of both L.A. City and County police officials.

As Patrick Meighan, a writer for Fox' animated sitcom Family Guy and one of the non-violent protesters arrested on the night of the crackdown, detailed at the time: "They forced us to kneel on the hard pavement of that parking garage for seven straight hours with our hands still tightly zipcuffed behind our backs. Some began to pass out. One man rolled to the ground and vomited for a long, long time before falling unconscious. The LAPD officers watched and did nothing."

Finally, however, it appears there will at least be some accountability...

According to the L.A. Times:

 

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $2.45-million agreement Wednesday to settle all claims involving Occupy L.A. protesters arrested during a violent clash with Los Angeles police in 2011. Although the City Council agreed to settle, the deal must still be approved by a U.S. District Court judge before it's finalized, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney's office.

Cheryl Aichele and five other demonstrators filed a lawsuit in December 2012, alleging the police department used a "shock and awe" campaign to forcibly remove hundreds of protesters from a campsite on the south side of City Hall.
...
[I]n court documents, protesters allege that the military tactics resulted in nearly 300 arrests in November 2011 and violated their "First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to assembly, association, freedom from unlawful seizure and liberty."

The protesters claimed their handcuffs were tight and they were refused basic rights, including access to water or bathroom facilities. They alleged they were told to urinate and defecate on themselves, according to the lawsuit.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations quickly spread nationwide in the fall of 2011, and were often brutally and violently crushed by state and local law enforcement groups at the orders of both Democratic and Republican elected officials in a number of states and cities. Protesters argued at the time that the police actions, which often turned incredibly violent, were in violation of the Constitution's First Amendment "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Rightwingers, who, at other times (see "Tea Party" rallies or the armed standoff against federal officials at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada last summer) have declared their love for First Amendment protest against government tyranny, were largely antagonistic towards Occupy demonstrators at the time. While many on the Right, perhaps ironically, were vocal in their support of the Big Government-led crackdowns on the large and sustained demonstrations against economic inequality and corporate favoritism, their perverse brand of "conservatism" is, once again, coming at a very high cost.

In this case, the price was not only against Constitutional free speech rights, but also against the pocket books of tax-payers who will now be forced to cough up nearly $2.5 million as recompense for unlawful and unconstitutional actions by law enforcement.

[Hat-tip Margot Paez on the Twitters...]

Washington police arrest 17 in Occupy Justice foreclosure protests. Actions continue today

 By Meteor Blades

They knew some of them would be arrested Monday and 17 of them were. They were homeowners from across the nation demonstrating outside the Department of Justice offices in Washington, D.C., against the government's years-long failure to take legal action against banks. Some of the protesters were tazed. A coalition made of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Homes, the Home Defenders League and the Campaign for a Fair Settlement, among others, the crux of demonstrators' message was that shielding the banks that are too big to fail is cowardly and unjust:

Five years after Wall Street crashed the economy, not one banker has been prosecuted for the reckless and fraudulent practices that cost millions of Americans their jobs, threw our cities and schools into crisis, and left families and communities ravaged by a foreclosure crisis and epidemic of underwater mortgages.

Nobody from DOJ came outside to talk with the protesters. Read below the fold for more on what sparked the protests:

The government worked out a $9.2 billion deal with the banks, with $3.3 billion meant to go to some four million eligible homeowners who had been foreclosed on in 2009 and 2010. Although the original plan was to have an independent review of how much each homeowner was owed, ultimately the decision was made to let the banks themselves decide. As an inevitable consequence of this ludicrous approach, many of those seeking foreclosure relief say they were unfairly compensated. For instance, Eric Krasner of Frederick, Maryland, was foreclosed on in 2010:

Krasner figured he was owed $62,000 from the settlement, but when his check came, he received only $2,000. Many in his situation received as little as $300 in compensation. "Until Eric Holder does his job and puts bankers in jail, this is going to continue," Krasner said.

A new report from Home Defenders League, Alliance for a Just Society and New Bottom Line Wasted Wealth: How the Wall Street Crash Continues to Stall Economic Recovery and Deepen Racial Inequity in America, points out the continuing impact on individuals and the economy from the foreclosure crisis. Some highlights:

The foreclosure crisis continued to destroy wealth on a large scale in 2012: Three years after the reported end of the Great Recession, the foreclosure crisis continued to destroy wealth on a large scale in 2012, with192.6 billion in wealth lost due to foreclosures across the U.S., an average of1,679 in lost wealth per household for each of the country’s 114.7 million households.

The most devastating impacts of the ongoing foreclosure crisis were in majority communities of color and racially diverse communities: ZIP codes with majority people of color populations saw 16 foreclosures per thousand households with an average of2,200 in lost wealth per household. In sharp contrast, segregated White communities experienced only 10 foreclosures per thousand households and an average wealth loss of1,300 per household.

More than 13 million homes are still underwater and at risk of foreclosure and more lost wealth: For reporting ZIP codes, there are at least 13.2 million underwater mortgages (when a homeowner owes more than the home is worth) on the books.1 The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 13% of underwater homeowners are already “seriously delinquent” on mortgage payments — they are foreclosures-in-waiting.2 If action is not taken to prevent these mortgages from going into foreclosure, Americans stand to lose nearly221 billion in additional wealth from these mortgages alone.

A strategy of principal reduction would save money for homeowners, boost the economy, and create jobs: Principal reduction—writing down underwater mortgages to current market values—would create significant savings for underwater homeowners. It would also generate new economic activity and create jobs in local economies. Using 2012 data, a principal reduction program could produce average annual savings of7,710 per underwater homeowner nationwide, boost the U.S. economy to the tune of101.7 billion, and create 1.5 million jobs.

Unemployment and underemployment contribute to the widening racial wealth divide. Median wealth ratios measure White wealth for every dollar of wealth for people of color. In 1995, the ratio of White to Black wealth was 7-to-1. In 2004, it was 11-to-1. By the reported end of the Great Recession 2009, it had ballooned to 19-to-1. For Latinos, the White-to-Hispanic wealth ratio was 7-to-1 in 2004. Five years later, it was 15-to-1. Wealth was lost across the board from the Great Recession, but significantly more so for people of color. From 2005 to 2009, White median net worth fell 16% to113,149. But net worth fell by 66% for Latinos to 18,359, and 53% for Blacks to 12,124.

The protesters' chief goals sound like an echo: prosecute Wall Street bankers; end the foreclosure crisis by resetting mortgages to their current value (“principal reduction”); restore and rebuild wealth stolen from communities of color that have been the hardest hit.
Meanwhile, they get tazed and arrested while the bailed-out bankers have returned to collecting their gargantuan bonuses with no fear that anybody in authority is going to give them any grief.

Originally posted to Meteor Blades on Tue May 21, 2013 at 08:01 AM PDT.

Also republished by Daily Kos.

Wal-Mart Strikers Prove the 99% Can Fight Back

By Diane Sweet

According to the Organization United for Respect at Walmart, 1,000 protests occurred at Wal-Mart stores across 46 states, with hundreds of workers walking off the job in an unprecedented decentralized, open-source strike at the retail giant. Local Occupy groups supported actions in dozens of cities. OWS joined with 99 Pickets, ALIGN, the Retail Action Project, and others to show solidarity to Wal-mart workers in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Despite attempts by Wal-Mart's propaganda department to downplay the events, the latest massive wave of strikes and solidarity actions at Wal-Mart forced even the corporate media to pay attention, and put the 1% on notice: When we work together, another world is possible. We do not have to accept poverty, low wages, or unfair working conditions with no benefits while six members of the Walton family are worth more than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

However, the struggle is far from over! Today's inspiring actions point the way forward. Please continue to support OUR Wal-Mart and all low-wage workers in the struggle for economic justice and show support for the courageous workers and unemployed people on the frontlines against income inequality.

They say roll back, we say fight back!

[Via OccupyWallSt.]

The People’s Bailout

This is a long post but it’s about something pretty interesting so I hope you’ll indulge …

Like many folks, Occupy Wall Street has been some doing good work in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, helping people on the ground.

Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.)

This is a simple, powerful way to help folks in need — to free them from heavy debt loads so they can focus on being productive, happy and healthy. As you can see from our test run, the return on investment approaches 30:1. That’s a crazy bargain!

Now, after many consultations with attorneys, the IRS, and our moles in the debt-brokerage world, we are ready to take the Rolling Jubilee program LIVE and NATIONWIDE, buying debt in communities that have been struggling during the recession.

We’re kicking things off with a show called THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT at Le Poisson Rouge on Thursday, November 15. It will also stream online, like a good ol’-fashioned telethon!




Friends, the line-up is insane. Performers include:
- JEFF MANGUM (Neutral Milk Hotel)
- JANEANE GAROFALO
- GUY PICCIOTTO (Fugazi)
- LIZZ WINSTEAD
- HARI KONDABOLU
- TUNDE ADEBIMPE and KYP MALONE (TV on the Radio)
- members of DAS RACIST
and other great talents including a group of radical nuns! I’ll be playing the role of JERRY LEWIS, emceeing in my tuxedo from MEN’S WEARHOUSE.

This will be a joyful, positive night about people banding together and subverting a predatory financial system in order to help each other. BOOM! That’s a movie pitch right there, goddamn why am I not a Hollywood mogul?!

Anyway, HERE IS THE INFORMATION about THE PEOPLE’S BAILOUT:

- The LIVE SHOW is at Le Poisson Rouge on THURSDAY 11/15, 8 - 11 PM. Tickets are $25 (each ticket buys $500 of distressed debt).
- The LIVE STREAM will be at http://rollingjubilee.org (you’ll be able to donate online)
- Here’s the FACEBOOK PAGE
- The HASHTAG is #peoplesbailout

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

- Spread the word! Share this info with your friends, family, and followers
- Donate money via http://rollingjubilee.org
$25 abolishes an estimated $500 worth of debt
$50 abolishes an estimated $1000 worth of debt
$100 abolishes an estimated $2000 worth of debt
$250 abolishes an estimated $5000 worth of debt
- Host a live-stream party! Get together with folks in your town and watch the show online and donate money and maybe even drink a beer if you’re feeling crazy.
- If you are Jerry Seinfeld or Bill Cosby: Call me about doing a set at the live show! We’ll fit you in.

Okay, that was a really long tumblr post. I feel very vulnerable right now. Thanks for reading.

Bye!
—David Rees