Copwatch brings the Goldhamer, NOT GUILTY

On April 23, 2012 in the Denver Municipal Court, the Honorable Raymond Satter presiding, a jury of six of Devin’s peers found him not guilty of a park curfew violation, finally vindicating Devin’s actions from seven months earlier.

Devin had been conducting CopWatch activities downtown in September with video camera in hand.  After he saw hundreds of people on bikes–the Denver Cruisers–in Civic Center Park, numerous cops descended on the area, riding their motorcycles dangerously through the crowd gathered in the amphitheater.  Devin courageously ventured into the park to record police activities.

His videotape captured police tolerating widespread drinking in the park as well as DUIs on bikes.  Devin was present in the park for two minutes before he was approached by police.  Instantly upon seeing Devin with his camera, “CopWatch” hat and “CopWatch” shirt, Sergeant Jeff Hausner demanded Devin’s ID for the citation and informed him his camera would be confiscated.  While literally hundreds of people milled around in the park without being cited for anything, Sgt Hausner chose Devin to be cited for the park curfew violation.  Others had received warnings to leave, but not Devin.

Judge Satter declined to dismiss the case based on selective enforcement and chilling of a First Amendment journalistic right, despite seeing Devin’s recovered videotape.  Nevertheless, at trial Judge Satter wisely refused to consider the violation a strict liability crime—despite the City Attorney’s half-baked argument to the contrary—and instead gave the jury a “knowingly” mens rea instruction.  At voir dire, the jury panel expressed that a park curfew violation was a “silly” crime.  The evidence demonstrated that no signs declared the park’s curfew at the park’s entrance, no officers warned Devin to leave, and that Devin did not “knowingly” violate the law.

Devin testified eloquently about CopWatch’s mission and withstood cross-examination.  After watching Devin’s video, which rounded out the context of the events that evening, the jury deliberated for merely ten minutes before rendering their verdict.  The jury rejected the City Attorney’s argument and Sgt Hausner’s testimony, which included inconsistencies as compared to his testimony at an earlier hearing.

Devin was represented by Aaron Goldhamer of the firm Jones & Keller.  Following trial, Mr. Goldhamer called the verdict “a clear message that the People of Denver will not tolerate the criminalization of seemingly innocent conduct.”  Mr. Goldhamer further opined that   Judge Satter’s jury instruction was consistent with United States Supreme Court precedent in Morissette v. U.S. and Staples v. U.S., and that the jury clearly appreciated the police accountability services that CopWatch provides.  “My thanks to Joel Cantrick and the National Lawyer’s Guild for their assistance on this case, but most of all to Devin for having the courage to hold law enforcement accountable for their actions and standing up for himself when he was victimized,” Goldhamer said.

Thank you all for all the support and the good people of Denver, especially the wonderful jury!

WDCW Goes To Court 4/23

On April 23, 2012 in the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse (520 West Colfax Ave), Courtroom 3G at 8:15 am a member of West Denver Copwatch will be in court fighting a park curfew ticket that was issued while the individual was Copwatching. Details of the unfortunate encounter of the po-lice kind are below but the general facts are this: A Copwatcher was ticketed while copwatching, BECAUSE he was Copwatching; while hundreds of other people were violating park curfew, drinking laws, as well as operating their bicycles while intoxicated, he was specifically targeted for asserting his constitutional rights.  Now we here at WDCW keep up with the laws the best we can, however we don’t know all of them, and lets be honest, curfew for adults? I mean the curfew for youth is ridiculous enough, but well known.  But a 26 year old can get ticketed for being in a public space after 11 pm? Come on…  We ask that anyone who can come out and show their support for WDCW in this ridiculous case that the state refuses to dismiss.

On the evening of 9/28/11 two members of West Denver Copwatch were ticketed for “Park Curfew”.  These individuals were copwatching downtown when they observed multiple motorcycle cops driving quickly and recklessly on sidewalks through Civic Center park.  As we Copwatchers tend to do, we went over to see what the commotion was about.  It was a place where the Denver Cruisers, a few hundred of them, were riding their bikes around and many present were drinking.  As Copwatch knows how DPD tends to react, people kept the camera rolling to record any misconduct or brutality on the part of the po-lice.  There were many officers around telling people they needed to clear out, but no one was being ticketed.   There were also motorcycle cops driving dangerously around what Crusiers call “the circle of death”.  The Copwatcher whom was videotaping what was happening was all the sudden approached by Sergeant Hausner, who had been talking to two young men with beers in their hands .  The Sergent informed the Copwatcher that the time was 11:25 PM and said Copwatcher would be receiving a ticket for violating curfew and that his video camera would be confiscated.  The Copwatcher of course stated that it was his right to be there observing the actions of the police and that he would not be giving up their camera for there is no reason to do so.   This Copwatcher also pointed out the fact that he was only being ticketed because he was Copwatching.  As a result of this point, the Sergent started ordering the other officers to ticket a few of the many other people in the area, something that most of the officers seemed to do begrudgingly.  This was obviously ticketing that was specifically targeting Copwatch for videotaping the police, while allowing countless BWIs to ride by.  The Sergent continued to say that the camera would be confiscated as “evidence”…yeah “evidence” for an alleged municipal violation.  While the Copwatcher refused, the Sergent repeatedly threatened charges of obstruction as well as interference.  Eventually the Copwatcher refused the camera but relinquished control of the tape.  Something they wish had gone down differently.  Another officer was videotaping each of the Copwatchers extremely close to their faces and all the way around, something we suspect was a facial recognition program.  West Denver Copwatch will continue to do what we have been doing the past few years, we will not be deterred or intimidated by the po-lice.  We will continue to stand up and fight for our rights, as well as teaching others.  When you cease to assert your rights, they cease to exist.

We hope to see you on April 23, 2012 in the Lindsey-Flanigan Courthouse (520 West Colfax Ave), Courtroom 3G at 8:15 am and we thank you for all your support.

‘The King’ – Culture Thief, Cop-Lover: An Article in Support of Walgreens

Elvis Presley, well known as simply as “The King”, is also notoriously made his musical name through the theft of Black music; becoming wildly rich and famous, through whitewashing and popularizing a music genre that, at the time, was deemed evil simply because it was a part of Black culture. Now “The King” is wildly held as one of the ‘greatest of all time’, an icon for America, and to some white, Elvis-loving, historical revisionists – an ally to the African-American community.

But, in Denver there stands physical evidence of the opposite, a gym built in a slain pig’s name, funded by the ‘King’ himself.

Nading-Presley Memorial Gym, was once housed at 3555 Colorado Blvd., inside the former District 2 station, where the building still stands. It was named after the slain cop – Officer Merle Nading, who was shot while on duty on East Colfax, the ‘wickedest street in America’. Now, not much information can be found about Officer Nading, but it could probably be assumed, that a white, crew-cut having, pig in the 60’s and 70’s, was not an ally of the Black or Chicano community (see picture: “Now tell me this guy’s not a member of the KKK”.

Presley the ‘Pig-Lover’ was already close friends with the then Denver Police Captain, Jerry Kennedy, AKA ‘the Mini-Narc’, who Presley once had on his private security team. This friendship, and Presley’s deep-seated love for racist pigs, also led him to buy “Jerry a Lincoln and some of the other officers received Cadillacs” (Westword).

“One of Elvis’ great loves was law enforcement. He was in town visiting and heard Merle was killed. He was visibly shaken hearing a police officer had been killed,” Kennedy said (Denver Post)

“Presley the ‘Pig-Lover’ was so extremely troubled by the death of one white pigs death in Denver, that he gave the Denver Police Department $5,000 in 1971, with which the DPD decided to continue the construction of the old gym in the former District 2 station, where one sole plaque of these white memories still stands – prime squatting real estate (Denver Post).

The DPD abandoned the building several years ago, and now Walgreens wants to tear it down! Although it would be nice to see the building have the plaque torn down and become a youth gym, I’ll settle for the total destruction of it – unless someone decides to ‘Occupy the Pigs'(? sounds kinda intriguing). So, although I may not stand by Walgreens in any way, or by their bullshit practices, or them tearing down buildings in dope communities, displacing families for their own capitalistic gains; I do stand by their decision to buy the building and tear that shit apart. Thank you Walgreens, this is your one minute of (A)narchist fame before you too are torn down…

And lastly, FUCK YOU DPD, and one BIG! FUCK YOU! TO ELVIS PRESLEY YOU RACIST, BIGOT, CULTURE-THIEVING, PIECE-OF-SHIT!

Read more:Old Denver police gym, built by donation from Elvis Presley, may be razed to make way for Walgreens – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20337399/old-denver-police-gym-built-by-donation-from#ixzz1recyE7PV
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Westword Article: Walgreens claims another Denver landmark

Sullivan You Fucking Piece of Shit: Another Pig Gets Off Easy

Yesterday, National Sheriff’s Association’s 2001 Sheriff of the Year Patrick Sullivan pleaded guilty to charges of felony possession of methamphetamine, and a misdemeanor soliciting prostitution. 69 year old Sullivan will serve 30 days in the jail named after him, and pay a fine of $1,100.

This decision comes less than a month after Timothy Faase, the man who dealt Sullivan the meth, plead guilty and received 3 years in prison, for possession and intent to distribute. Faase’s sentence is closer to the traditional sentencing for charges of this nature, although it’s about 12 times more than ex-pig but still a pig Sullivan’s sentence of just 30 days.

Now on to our mother fucking opinion (this is blog after all) –

Firstly, Faase pretty much had the same drug charges against him that Sullivan did – in fact, both were charged with possession of methamphetamine, but as Faase was charged with ‘intent to distribute’, while Sullivan was originally charged with distribution (since he did after-all distribute meth, while soliciting prostitution). On top of that, Sullivan also was being charged with soliciting prostitution, a misdemeanor. So, while Faase got 3 years for having and selling meth, Sullivan got 30-days for having meth, and ‘trading’ it for sex, or more exactly: for exploiting drug users for their addiction. Furthermore, Faase was only arrested because during the ‘sting’ operation on Sullivan, they followed the dumb-fucking pig to Faase’s (his dealer) house. So even the allocation of resources to these individuals’ investigations aren’t comparable to their cases or sentences. So what’s the difference between the two cases? Why was Sullivan, although charged with even more heinous crimes, let off with only 30 days jail-time? Oh ya, because he’s a fucking pig, and yet again we learn that pigs are above the law. They can murder people day-in and day-out without ANY repercussions, they can rape, steal, beat, harass, and arrest us, but when we want them arrested and charged with crimes that they’re guilty of committing what is the response? Oh ya: Rape=No Time; Murder=No Time; Buying Meth and Exploiting Addicts for Sex=30 Days…

Even more ridiculous, is the fact that this piece of shit was the “Head of Security for Cherry Creek Public Schools” for 6 years! And when asked whether he ever “had sex with a minor” AKA ‘raped a child’, he said that “he could not tell them yes or no because he was under the influence of meth during those encounters”, or in plain terms ‘he didn’t remember cuz he was fucked up on meth’… Colorado Deputy Attorney General Michael Dougherty testified that “he may very well have had sex with underage individuals” (Denver Post). Ummm he may very well have?! Did you fucking investigate it? How about ask the kids from Cherry Creek Public Schools?! On top of that, the pigs who arrested the heinous pig, found ‘suspicious’ nude images of persons who might be minors on Sullivan’s computer, but with no evidence to back it.

Lastly, in order to keep this shorter than my usual rants, I’d like to also highlight the fact noted by the Denver Post that:

“The felony meth charge carried a presumptive sentence of a year in jail and, with aggravating factors, could have meant as much as three years behind bars. But it was ultimately left up to the discretion of the judge.”

So really, this goes to my first point, that Sullivan should have really gotten at least 1-year, if not 3 – but got 3 months in jail. I wish sooo bad that your piece-of-shit pig ass was headed to PRISON for a year, hell even just 3 months… Now WDC does not, in any way,

support prisons in any way, in fact just the opposite. But I could only hope that Sullivan himself would face the life of a 69-year old ex-sheriff locked-up… Having to actually sit with persons who are more sick and fed up with these fucking pigs than anyone, with no control, no gun on his hip? I guess this is just wishful thinking… Anyways, at least he’ll be in jail for 30 days, that’s more than I can say for a lot of pig fucking murderers… It’s better than nothing!

All I can really say is: HAVE FUN MOTHER FUCKER, I HOPE YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE!   🙂

Read more:Former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick Sullivan pleads guilty in meth-for-sex case – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_20320732#ixzz1r638VOIw
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Denver Post Faase Article:

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20155530/three-year-sentence-man-who-supplied-meth-former?source=pkg

Memorial Video of Marvin Booker sent to us by Booker Family

DPD Lies for $, Politics as Usual

DISCLAIMER: Let’s get one thing straight right away – West Denver Copwatch in NO WAY backs ANY politician EVER, especially Renfroe’s racist, teabagging, fucking bigot – just keep that in mind. Now, on to the article!

Over a month ago, State Senator Scott Renfroe – representing most of Weld County, including Greeley and Evans – introduced Senate Bill 50 to the Colorado legislature. Senate Bill 50 was designed to ban ALL ‘red-light cameras at intersections, as well as the use of photos for issuing tickets’ (Westword). Basically, if you’ve ever seen a bright, distracting flash while driving down the road, then got a ticket with a picture of you flipping off a camera in the mail a month later, it was from one of these red-light cameras/photo ticketing systems.

Renfroe argued that these camera-ticketing systems were “more about generating revenue than enhancing safety”; while on the other hand, doubters (mostly pigs and politicians wanting more money for gear to “beat the crowds” and line their pockets respectively [irrespectively]) argued that these ticket-generating systems were strictly for safety reasons: specifically stating that they brought down the number of accidents at red lights (Westword). Renfroe insisted however that there were other, more efficient ways to prevent red-light accidents, tactics that were actually study-driven; he sited one study from Texas in which “accidents at given intersections were halved simply by keeping the yellow light on for one second longer” (Westword).

Unfortunately, but not shockingly, “numerous law-enforcement representatives testified against Renfroe’s bill”; Renfroe himself stated that he thought “the committee liked what the police officers had to say about the cameras — and they didn’t really listen to the other studies or to the citizens” – which is an everyday reality for persons who are NOT State Senators; in fact pigs usually get the benefit of the doubt in all systems of government, most visibly the courts (Westword). 

Refroe also stated that he had concerns about ‘Big-Brother’, and their eyes in the sky: “Obviously, there are concerns about Big Brother and government. There’s the question of ‘Are we going too far with this and encroaching on people’s privacy and the right to address your accuser?’ It’s kind of crazy when you look at the system and what we have in place: They send you a ticket in the mail and people pay it without questioning it when you don’t really have to pay it. If it doesn’t go on your record and doesn’t go on your insurance — if it doesn’t do any of these things — then why are we collecting money on it?” (Westword) Although you don’t see Renfroe trying to tear down the HALO Cameras, or fighting against any other of the numerous examples of ‘Big-Brother’ invading OUR privacy.

For the last few months, local Colorado media outlets have been hyping this story, particularly the notion that these red-light cameras prevent accidents, and aren’t just designed to make quick money for the state/pork-lice. In fact one video in particular from Fox 31, interviewed Detective Pig John White explicitly repeats that these cameras are ‘for our safety’, while repeatedly replaying horrific accidents from persons running red lights, even though these cameras didn’t prevent these accidents from happening (see 9 News Video HERE). Cameras clearly aren’t preventative, as they only take pictures after someone has run the red light, and do only that – take pictures – not physically preventing an accident. As for the argument that persons will stop when they see the camera, I would say that if someone doesn’t stop when they see the red light that’s right below the camera and 50 times larger, they probably won’t see/care about the camera.

Now, the day after the bill was rejected, after a near, Colorado media-frenzy, arguing the fact that these cameras were not just to generate revenue, they were ‘for your protection’, 9 News is reporting that they were given a false statistic by the DPD, directly related to the amount of revenue the cameras generated (9 News). In fact, in the midst of a political battle over the actual basis for these red-light cameras, with the DPD explicitly claiming that they are NOT to simply generate revenue; they were at the same time, lying to the media about just how much money the red-light camera system was making! This was not a simple accounting error, or a few dollars here-and-there that went unaccounted-for, they mis-led the public and politicians who might have seen this constant media attention, by around $1 million (9 News). In a recent statement given by Pig spokesman Sonny Jackson, he stated that instead of giving the media the full, yearly revenue figure of $1.2 million, the dumb fucking pig gave them about one month’s worth at about $279,000; 9 News is also reporting that according to their research later (which led to them questioning these wrong figures), these red-light cameras generate about $2 million per year in total revenue (9 News).

Jackson: “Truly, I have no intention to mislead Channel 9 or the public and I think that’s where we really have been concerned, because we want the public to have the clearest picture of what revenue is being generated, how the program is working because the program is going to exist for a while. We need to be as transparent as we can about how it exists.”

BULLSHIT – they fucking gave the wrong numbers to they could back a bullshit argument, or more importantly, deflate the argument against them. Once again they’re just straight lying to the public, and when they get caught they want to turn around and say that they want to be ‘more transparent’, and instill faith and trust in the public. FUCK YOU DPD, YOU PIECE OF SHIT LIARS! A program to ensure  ‘our safety’ and not make money, but earns $2 million per year for the fucking police department?! That’s doubly against OUR safety… I call bullshit DPD – FUCK YOU!

 

Westword Article:

http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/02/red_light_camera_bill_dies_safety_intersections.php

9 News

http://www.9news.com/news/local/article/251163/222/DPD-gave-9NEWS-faulty-photo-radar-info

West Denver Pushes Back

Taken From the Denver Post (10/20/12):

“Denver police are looking for a young man who fired a pistol at an officer at close range, missed and ran away tonight.

The incident happened at about 8:30 p.m. near West 17th Avenue and Julian Street.”

Of course the pigs described the person as being a POC, wearing a ‘hoodie with patches’.

“Police have set up a perimeter and were searching the area with a helicopter and dogs late tonight.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said an officer approached the young man because he was “acting suspiciously” in the area, which is southeast of Sloans Lake in West Denver.”
Read more:Young man fires shot, misses police officer in West Denver – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20007882#ixzz1n7i1BvWy
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

New H.A.L.O. Spots

Google Map of H.A.L.O. Cameras

This is the newest additions to the Orwellian surveillance network, H.A.L.O.  from one of WDCW’s closest comrades.  Thank you!

Chicago ‘Eavesdropping’ Act Under Scrutiny

Many of you probably already know the story behind the criminalization of Copwatch, but recently one state’s ban on Copwatching is finally being challenged.

The ‘Illinois Eavesdropping Act’ specifically prohibits the “recording of a peace officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and speaking at a volume audible to the unassisted human ear”, basically making it impossible for Copwatchers to do their job in the Chicago area (Huffington Post). The punishment for filming a public official, on duty, in public; is a Class 1 felony charge that can result in a substantial fine and up to 15 years in prison. In one instance, a young woman Tiawanda Moore, after being sexually harassed by Chicago pigs, attempted to video tape these dirt-bag pigs to protect herself, and ensure that if her rights were being violated she would at least have some documentation; was then threatened with felony charges and jail time (Huffington Post). In another instance, Occupy Chicago participants attempting to film a livestream of a local Occupy protest, were again, threatened with arrest (Chicagoist). In yet another case, “Chicago artist Christ Drew recorded his arrest for selling art in the Loop and was also charged with eavesdropping”; Drew filed suit with the ACLU in 2010.

Recently this egregious ban on Copwatching has been under scrutiny, as protests against the G8 and NATO are set to kick off May 19-21 in Chicago, which could result in the arrest of thousands of persons attempting to keep the pigs in line. This week amendments were approved 9-2 by the House committee, “sending it to the House floor for further action” (Chi CBS Local). One public defender speaking out against in defense of clients being prosecuted for allegedly filming the po-lice, stated that, “’It is patently unfair to arrest American citizens for filming their government doing government work in a public place’ and that police would ‘be arresting people for filming the police arresting people’” (Chicagoist).

Even the dumb-fucking pig superintendent Garry McCarthy backs the amendment, albeit for the ridiculously inexplicable reason “that they [footage of pigs] can protect police by providing evidence of officers doing their jobs correctly in the case of police brutality accusations”, according to the Huffington Post. Of course this argument is completely dismantled not only by the constant acts of brutality committed by ALL pigs, and consistent abuse of rights at any major (or minor) protest; let alone the fact that most other Illinois pigs are speaking out against the amendments, realizing that their wet dreams of a May filled with ‘getting up early to beat the crowds’ are going to be crushed by ordinary citizens demanding accountability. When presented with the argument that having the ability to film the police might ‘level the playing field’ between pigs and protesters, Deputy Chief of Narcotics Patrick Coughlin (of course) disagreed, arguing that the amendment would give ‘more rights to private citizens to collect evidence of a crime than officers have’, or how about just not blocking the rights private citizens already have, plus this statement doesn’t even make sense (Huffington Post).

This bill is completely ridiculous, pigs have the right to film persons walking down the street and protesters to build databases of ordinary citizens standing-up for their rights; but ordinary citizens don’t have the ability to film public officers, in a public setting, in a public position?! Pigs just want to get away with beating people down with no repercussions, pretty much what happens now around the country, just with even better odds and less resistance. Now usually we aren’t ones to take political stands (haha), but FUCK HB3944 – keep Copwatchin’

Lots of love to Chicago Copwatch – show some support ya’ll!

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/09/illinois-eavesdropping-am_n_1266465.html

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/move-advances-to-lift-ban-on-recording-police-officers/

http://chicagoist.com/2012/02/09/bill_that_makes_changes_to_illinois.php

Drunk Pig Hits Telephone Pole Appeals Suspension

According to reports, almost 2-YEARS ago, off-duty pig Michael Lemmons was riding his motorcycle home at around 1:30 AM, when he inexplicably ran into a pole. “Lemmons suffered a head injury and broke every bone between his shoulder and hip on his right side, said Cpl. Danny Dunn, a member of the DUI unit.”

Dunn alleges that he smelled “a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath” and “refused twice to take a blood test”. “Dunn then filled out a criminal summons and complaint against Lemmons… But the Denver district attorney’s office refused to prosecute”

Furthermore, as Lemmons refused to take a blood test (twice) to confirm that he was driving under the influence of alcohol, he should have received an automatic suspension of his drivers license. Although Lemmons did NOT have his driver’s license suspended because the other pig: Dunn, “didn’t receive a subpoena or a notice that it was scheduled and didn’t know about” the DMV hearing.

Now drunk pig Lemmons is appealing his 92-day suspension for “drunk and careless driving”.

There is so much wrong with this situation that I don’t know where to start! First-off, why would the DA not prosecute any person who drove into a pole at 1:30 in the morning, smelling of alcohol (from the testament of a pig, who’s word is obviously holier than thou’s in any courtroom in the US), and refusing to take 2 blood tests?! Clearly, because he’s a pig, he gets this privileged treatment, benefit of the doubt, whatever you want to call this clear preferential treatment.

Secondly, Dunn…. what the fuck – you didn’t know about the hearing?! Sounds a little suspect in my opinion. I’m guessing that either the notice didn’t get to him on purpose, he decided (or was persuaded) not to go because of this bullshit pig brotherhood shit, or because he’s just plain dumb.

Thirdly, how have you not served a suspension already for an incident that happened 2 YEARS ago?! Shouldn’t that have come into effect yet?

Lastly, and most importantly – the Pig Grand Wizard shells out 92-day suspensions for alleged DUI’s but not for MURDER?!

FUCK YOU DPD…

Read more:Denver cop appealing suspension contends he wasn’t drunk – The Denver Posthttp://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_19958288#ixzz1mNhYLZpX
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse