123 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
123 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
Downloaded from AMNET (312) 436-3062 Chicago's Civil Liberties<65>
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BBS
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PROOF OF NATIONWIDE POLICE POLITICAL SPYING NETWORK
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REVEALED IN CHICAGO LITIGATION
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by Chip Berlet
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The belated production of a set of correspondence files from
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the Chicago Police Department Intelligence Unit (CPD/ID) has
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confirmed suspicions that an informal nationwide network for
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sharing political dossiers among police and private intelligence
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agencies existed for several decades prior to 1975.
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The documents were assumed to have been destroyed as part of
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an attempt by the Chicago Police Department to sanitize their
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intelligence files after a police informant warned superiors
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in 1974 that a lawsuit against political spying was planned by a
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Chicago coalition group called the Alliance to End Repression and
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other activist groups.
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"All of the agencies received from, or sent to, the Chicago
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Police Department Intelligence Division information regarding the
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lawful political activity of citizens," said plaintiff's attorney
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Richard Gutman.
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The existence of the "Transmittal Files" was inadvertantly
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discovered in September of 1984 - seven years after a Federal
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Judge had ordered their production in pre-trial discovery
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proceedings. The files show that 159 agencies in 33 states
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throughout the nation received political spying files from, or
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sent such files to, the Chicago Police Department Intelligence
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Division.
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The agencies include 100 municipal police departments, 26
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state law enforcement agencies, 16 county sheriffs offices, and
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17 other public and private agencies.
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"While many concerned civil libertarians have been convinced
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of the existence of politically-motivated activity by their local
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police, they have frequently been frustrated by the need for
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concrete proof." said Frank Donner. Donner, author of The Age of
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Surveillance (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1980), the definitive work on
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political surveillance in the United States, called for a
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"remedial campaign to abolish such abuses."
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Gutman, has been providing the police reports to lawyers
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pursuing litigation against local police agencies for illegal
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political surveillance. He says he is willing to discuss the
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terms of a court protective order covering the material with
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legitimate legal representatives of individuals or groups
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contemplating such litigation. So far eleven attorneys or
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representatives of legal groups have contacted Gutman for copies
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of relevant documents. Numerous named individuals have asked for
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and received copies of their files as well.
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According to Gutman, the following examples are typical of
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the material discussed in the Transmittal Files:
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*The Texas Department of Public Safety ("Texas Rangers")
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sought "any pertinent information related to subversive
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activities or affiliations" regarding Chicago attorney Terry Yale
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Feiertag. The Chicago police responded that attorney Feiertag was
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employed by an organization whic provided legal aid to low income
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groups and in civil rights cases;
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*The Indianapolis Police Department sought "any data"
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regarding Clergy and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. The Chicago
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police in response sent information about the group's lawful
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anti-war activities;
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*The Detroit Police Department sought information regarding
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Lucy Montgomery. in response the Chicago police sent Detroit a
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four-page report detailing Mrs. Montgomery's lawful political
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activities.
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Although the federal district court on May 4, 1977, ordered
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the Chicago Police Department to produce all such transmittal
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files, the files were not produced for inspection until September
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25, 1984, seven years after the order. The plaintiffs in the
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lawsuit filed a motion to have the Chicago Police Department held
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in contempt for failing to obey the court order. Federal Judge
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Susan Getzendanner denied the motion.
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It is almost certain the files originally were intentionally
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withheld to prevent discovery by the plaintiffs. However it is
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unclear at what point in the lengthy litigation, which saw
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defendants take several different legal postures regarding what
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documents were covered by the discovery order, that the fact of
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the files existence became lost in the mountains of paperwork.
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The Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago sought to
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block Gutman from providing the documents to plaintiffs
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litigators in other cities. This is ironic because the current
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Mayor, Harold Washington, was for many years an outspoken critic
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of the CPD Intelligence Unit and its civil liberties violations.
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While still a Congressional Representative and while running for
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the Mayoral post, he described himself publicly as a victim of
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illegal police spying.
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Now, in a recent court proceeding, attorneys representing
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the City of Chicago tried unsuccessfully to block paralegals
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working on an ACLU spying case in California from having access
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to CPD/ID materials already provided to the ACLU attorneys in
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that case.
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The City of Chicago attorneys successfully blocked release
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of files relating to Michigan to Michigan state representative
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Perry Bullard. Bullard, Chairperson of the Michigan House
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Judiciary Committee, had requested access to the files to
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evaluate "the necessity for new state legislation regulating
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surveillance by Michigan state and local law enforcement
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agencies." Judge Getzendanner, who has expressed thinly-veiled
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displeasure from the bench that the case remains on the docket,
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ruled that a subpoena from the Michigan legislative body would be
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required.
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Electronic Osmosis by New York On-Line 718-852-2662
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