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Press Releases R2K LEGAL COLLECTIVE PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 21, 2000 CONTACT: Kris Hermes, R2K Legal (215) 925-6791 http://www.r2klegal.org PA STATE POLICE REFUSE TO TURN OVER INFORMATION ON UNDERCOVER INFILTRATION OFFICERS ARRESTED DURING THE RNC In accordance with last week’s judicial order, R2K Lawyers argued today to obtain remaining information on identity, location and communication for six state troopers arrested in street blockades the day of mass RNC arrests (Philadelphia, PA) Pennsylvania State Police successfully avoided disclosing information today in court on the details of infiltration by state troopers arrested with activists during the RNC protests. Information that was disclosed per a judicial order issued last week was spotted at best. When questioned by Municipal Court Judge James DeLeon as to the source of the information, a state police attorney and an intelligence officer were both unable to give verification beyond miscellaneous web sites and Internet listservs where they had gleaned information. It is unlikely that any information will be provided by the state police, on infiltration activities, due to an apparent "risk" to officers still engaged in undercover activity. However, one of the six undercover state troopers arrested in street blockades is no longer working undercover and will eventually be called to testify. DeLeon did order the DA to turn over any information provided to the Philadelphia Police Department by the Pennsylvania State Police by Tuesday, November 28, 2000 at 5:00PM. A motion for dismissal on "Outrageous Police Misconduct" was not heard today as expected due to insufficient information from the PPD on their knowledge or participation in infiltration activities. This argument, along with others, was postponed until next Tuesday. There is a possibility that R2K lawyers will call Police Commissioner John Timoney to the stand to testify. Other important motions to dismiss to be argued next week include "prior restraint," "suppression of evidence," and "possession of instrument of crime." Because infiltration and the question of illegitimate and illegal activity by police is at the heart of nearly half of the RNC trials, R2K lawyers intend to get to the bottom of such activity. In a memo turned over, by judicial order, to R2K lawyers Friday, the Pennsylvania State Police explain that one of their "orders" was the "Protection of the rights of the protestors lawfully exercising their First Amendment Rights." Yet, after undercover police aided in creating puppets, signs, and banners, they made sure that the first amendment material would never reach the streets. Fully aware that they were disobeying their orders to "protect First Amendment rights," state police not only aided in the confiscation and ultimate destruction of First Amendment property, but also drove a van full of activists into custody before a word was uttered or a single law broken. "What have the State Police taught us," asks defense attorney Bradley Bridge, "other than that the government fears the messages of its citizens and that it will go to great lengths to infiltrate and then arrest members of peaceful groups?" Bringing the credibility of law enforcement into question, the Pennsylvania State Police, stated early on that, "We did not give the Philadelphia Police Department advance notice of our specific intelligence operations." Later, they contradicted that statement by admitting that, "We told [the Philadelphia Police Department] in advance that we would be infiltrating certain groups." Philadelphia Police Commissioner Timoney has repeatedly denied that police had engaged in infiltration. Yet, information released by the same group that supplied city police with intelligence information used to enter the puppet warehouse contradicts this. In a report issued by the Maldon Institute titled, "R2K: Philadelphia’s Convention Protests," and dated August 17, 2000, author John Rees confirms what many suspected all along. Rees states that, "Assistance was provided to Philadelphia from neighboring police jurisdictions; the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware State Police; and the federal law enforcement community including the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Treasury’s US Secret Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In the control and coordination of these law enforcement groups, the prime responsibility for enforcing the law rested with Commissioner Timoney." "Various law enforcement agencies can continue to deny working in collaboration with each other," says RNC defendant Bill Beckler, "but at the end of the day, we were still heavily infiltrated in a city that is prohibited from engaging in such practices." --030-- |
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