Police Tactics

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Connexions Library

Absurd charges brought against reporters covering Occupy Wall Street movement
Article
2011
Journalists covering the Occupy Wall Street movement’s protests and marches are not only exposed to police brutality but also to a sort of judicial lottery when detained. The situation varies from sta...
Agent provocateur: Connexipedia Article
Article
A person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act.
Amid the Tumult in Durham
Reavis, Dick J.
Article
2017
Peter Gilbert (a rights attorney) and his wife Elena Everett,a non-profit organizer, had their house searched by Sheriff's officers in Durham when nobody was at home. It had to do with a demonstratio...
Anti-Capitalist Demonstration of May 1, 2013 in Montreal: Journée des Travailleurs et Travailleuses: Manifestation Anti-Capitaliste
Film/Video
2013
Montreal 2013: police state. Montreal's municipal goverment passes a bylaw that suspends the right of citizens to assemble unless they have received advance permission from police. Citizens who assert...
Big Oil's Chokehold on Canadian Democracy
Dobbin, Murray
Article
2014
The fight against Big Oil corporatism may be the most important one you ever support.
The Committee for the Defense of Democratic Rights
Article
1978
A Law Union pamphlet regarding the legality of national security measures.
Cops Are Now Less Cautious Than Soldiers In Iraq: Shooting Mirian Carey
Carp, Jonathan
Article
2013
Police militarization is a hot topic lately, but American police are beyond anything contemplated by the American military. American police today appear unwilling to accept any risk whatsoever and see...
Cops Charge Black Activist with "Lynching": Defend Maile Hampton!
Article
2015
On January 18, 2015, Maile Hampton, a young black woman and member of the ANSWER Coalition, was leading chants at a Sacramento, California, protest against a pro-cop rally. An online video shows the c...
Crimes of the Secret Police: Bombers, Burglars, Bullies, Barn-Burners And Dynamite Thieves
Dion, Robert
Book
1982
An account of crimes committed by the RCMP security service in the name of national security.
The Dangerous Junk Science of Vocal Risk Assessment
Kofman, Ava
Article
2018
Various companies and government agencies aim to use technology that measures biological features such as facial expressions or tone of voice to assess individuals, such as refugee claimants or potent...
Doing Time for Peace: Moral Lights
Swanson, David
Article
2012
Hundreds of Americans, young and old, are regularly going to prison, sometimes for months or years or decades, for nonviolently resisting U.S. militarism.
Even the FBI Agrees: When Undercover Agents Pose as Journalists, It Hurts Real Journalists' Work
Aaronson, Trevor
Article
2018
The FBI doesn't want the public to know more about how its agents pose as journalists during undercover investigations.The government acknowledged in a court filing that FBI agents who pretend to be j...
40 Reasons Our Jails and Prisons Are Full of Black and Poor People: It's Not Just About Crime!
Quigley, Bill
Article
2015
Quigley provides a list of reasons why the majority of prisoners in US jails are Black and poor people.
Guide to public order situations: A brief survival guide for when a demonstration turns into a riot
Article
2006
Bear in mind that the police are probably much better equipped and trained for close combat than you or I. They have been psyching themselves up for hours, are likely to have plenty of reserves standi...
How California police are tracking your biometric data in the field: Agencies are using mobile fingerprint scanners, tattoo and facial recognition software
Brown, J Pat; Maass, Dave
Article
2015
EFF and MuckRock got together to reveal how state and local law enforcement agencies are using mobile biometric technology in the field by filing public records requests around the country. Thousands ...
How "Hate Crimes Against Police" Expose the Fatal Flaw Within Hate Crime Statutes
Cantú, Aaron
Article
2015
Hate crime legislation lent legitimacy to a 40-year carceral program that has wrought immense damage on communities of colour. In an ironic twist, the police - who've been the main enforcers of this p...
Huge Pipeline Company Kinder Morgan Hired Off-Duty Cops to 'Deter Protests' in Pennsylvania
Brown, Alleen
Article
2015
Kinder Morgan, the self-proclaimed "largest energy infrastructure company in North America," paid $50,000 for off-duty police officers from a Pennsylvania department to patrol a controversial gas pipe...
Kurt Vonnegut and the American Police State: Just Say "Hi-Ho!" as They Strip Search You
Lindorff, Dave
Article
2012
The country seems to have crossed over a dark threshold. We are now a police state in all but name. Cops and wannabe cops are shooting innocent people and nothing gets done.
Legal Lessons From the Green Scare: When the Constitution is No Obstacle to the FBI
Rosenfeld, Ben; Regan, Lauren
Article
2010
Green Scare prosecutors and their coordinators in Washington are willing to destroy individual lives to score political points, and to trample their own rules in the process.
Montreal spends $110,000 on private lawyers to fight challenge to anti-protest bylaw: There's room for austerity around everything except repression
McSorley, Tim
Article
2014
As the city of Montreal tightens its belt-buckle and is cutting budgets, two Montrealers who are challenging the city's regulations around demonstrations are questioning the amount of resources the ci...
Morality Policing
Monbiot, George
Article
2010
The police treat protests and festivals as a threat to their power.
No News is Not Good News: Cops Taping Protesters & Journalists
Lindorff, Dave
Article
2010
If cops photograph and videotape protesters and journalists, it's news if it happens in China, but when it happens in the U.S., as it routinely does, the media are silent.
Operation Freedom
Article
1978
A tabloid designed to inform the public about the growing national measures in Canada
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - July 2, 2016: Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn, and Contempt for Democracy
Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
Article
2016
Brexit, the British vote to leave the European Union, has thrown the political elites into turmoil and confusion. The referendum was supposed to be a safe political manoeuvre, a way to produce an appe...
Paris and London in the 18th Century: Studies in Popular Protest
Rude, George
Book
1952
Articles relating to popular protests and revolts breaking out in Paris and London during the eighteenth century.
Police Broke Into Chelsea Manning's Home with Guns Drawn - in a 'Wellness Check'
Lee, Micah; Speri, Speri
Article
2018
A video recording of a 'wellness check' by police in Maryland, USA, shows police officers arriving with weapons drawn. The incident sheds light on a very disturbing police procedure and whether law en...
Provocateur Cops Caught Disguised As Anarchists At G20
Watson, Paul Joseph
Article
2009
At every single major summit over the past few years, authorities have inserted agent provocateurs into protest groups in order to spy on them and if necessary, provoke violence to justify oppressive ...
Public Declaration: Solidarity against police repression in Montreal: We will not submit to the municipal by-law P-6
Article
2013
With this public declaration, we assert our opposition to by-law P-6: we will continue to demonstrate without negotiating our demo routes with police, and we will systematically challenge all tickets ...
Quebecers' right to protest restricted after 2012 "Maple Spring" in Canada
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Article
2013
In 2012, a massive student strike over tuition fee increases rocked Quebec and thousands took to the streets, marching in protest. In the aftermath, Montreal residents find that their ability to prote...
Racist Violence is Used to Maintain an Unjust Social Order: From Trayvon Martin to Wall Street
Urie, Rob
Article
2012
While it would be gratifying and is socially necessary to bring Trayvon’s murderer to justice, the continuation of America’s system of racial oppression must also be ended or we just wait for the inev...
Raising the Workers' Flag: The Workers' Unity League of Canada, 1930-1936
Endicott, Stephen L.
Book
2012
A history of the Workers' Unity League, the Canadian affiliate of the Communist Red International of Labour Unions.
RCMP bombed oil site in 'dirty tricks' campaign
Article
1999
The Mounties bombed an oil installation as part of a dirty tricks campaign in their investigation into sabotage in the Alberta's oil patch.
The Return of COINTELPRO?: Time to Target the Real Terrorists
McNamara, Tom
Article
2013
The FBI was using its offices and agents across the country as early as August 2011 to engage in a massive surveillance scheme against Occupy Wall Street. The documents show a government agency at its...
Section 60 advice guide: Some information and tips on the law, your rights, and how to react when police have enforced a "Section 60" order on a demonstration
Article
2006
At some recent demonstrations, police have cordoned off the demonstration, corralling large numbers of people into an increasing confined area before taking their names, addresses and photographs, eve...
The Smile of Policeman Agadi
al-Ahmed, Abdel Rahman
Article
2002
An account of the abuse of Palestinian political prisoners in the Israeli prison system.
The social significance of Toronto's June 15 homeless "riot"
Article
2000
What happened on June 15 bears close attention for what it says about the trajectory of politics in Ontario and the country as a whole. The police ran amok, attacking not only anyone participating in ...
SPP Agent Provocateur Cops Caught Red Handed Attempting To Incite Violence
Watson, Steve
Article
2007
Peaceful protestors at the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit in Montebello have captured sensational video of hired agent provocateurs attempting to incite rioting and turn the protest ...
State Law Breakers: Violating the Law While Enforcing the Law
Carson, Kevin
Article
2013
Police routinely break the law under the pretext of enforcing the law.
Stop-and-Frisk as a Policy of State Control Over Blacks and Latinos: Hobbes on Trial in New York City
Paul, Ari
Article
2013
Nicholas Peart is one of the plaintiffs in the federal class action lawsuit against the New York Police Department’s policy of stop-and-frisk, where officers use their power to roam the streets and st...
Stop and search guide to your rights: A page of information about police stop and search powers in the UK and your rights when you are stopped and searched.
Article
2006
What is a ‘Stop and Search’? Police officers can stop and talk to you at any time. But they should only search you if they suspect you are carrying: Drugs, Weapons, Stolen property, Tools which could ...
Submission to the MacDonald Commissionon the R.C.M.P
Article
The authors of this submission are concerned with the presence of the RCMP Security Services at events such as trade union meetings.
Synthesis: A review of events reported in the Canadian press: Volume VI Number 5
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1978
Synthesis is the journal of the Canadian News Synthesis Project. Previously known as the Canadian News Synthesis Project (1974 - 1976), Synthesis analyzes and presents current news coverage of the mos...
10 Shocking Incidents of Police Brutality Caught on Tape : Finally, a Reason to Like CCTV
Henderson, Clint
Article
2012
The internet is full of videos exposing police officers’ use of excessive physical force when trying to apprehend or detain “potential criminals”. Every year in fact there seems to be an increase in Y...
Terrorism Act 2000 guide: A quick guide and brief summary of the parts of the British Terrorism Act 2000 of relevance to radical workers
Article
2006
"Terrorism" is defined very widely and could include what people would normally think of as direct action. It gives the Police very wide powers to stop search and arrest, and limits people's rights - ...
Undercover Agents Infiltrated Tar Sands Resistance Camp to Break Up Planned Protest: TransCanada and Department of Homeland Security Keep Close Eye on Activists, FOIA Documents Reveal
Federman, Adam
Article
2013
Law enforcement officials and TransCanad had been spying on a Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance training camp and were able to block some activists who had planned to block the gates at the company’s...
Violence and the Newspaper Strike
Bernick, Thomas
Article
1997
To those who still allow their anti-union biases and their exposure to employer misinformation to cloud their perception of reality, I would pose the following question: If the employer and its suppor...
War Against the People: Israel, The Palestinians and Global Pacification
Halper, Jeff
Book
2015
Governments today are waging a 'war against the people' -- whether 'securitization' against asylum seekers in Fortress Europe, 'counterinsurgency' in Afghanisation, or the subliminal war of policy and...

Sources Library

The Central Park Five - review
Against The Current vol. 162
S., George
2013
A review of 'The Central Park Five', a documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon.
Handcuffed and herded
My big Alpine adventure with Switzerland's police
Clark, Andrew
2011
A journalist at the World Economic Forum Summit is detained and intimidated along with protestors by Swiss police.
IFJ and EFJ oppose media restrictions in the newly-enacted Spanish Public Security Law
Sources News Release
2015
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have joined their Spanish affiliates FAPE, FESP, FSC-CC.OO. and ELA-Gizal...
Israeli soldiers disguised as photojournalists endanger journalists' lives, says MADA
Sources News Release
2009
The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) expresses concern over the Israeli occupation forces disguising themselves as photojournalists in the middle of Palestinian protesters.
Madrid barrio expels 'racist' police patrols
Jeering crowds chase away officers who try to detain immigrants
Tremlett, Giles
2011
Community protests police practice of racial profiling: the protests have been dubbed the "indignant" movement.
Magnum force cops: 'If you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail'
2014
US law enforcement is increasingly using military weapons for everyday tasks. Instead of hiding behind heavy armor, they should be building trust with the community, Peter Bibring, attorney for the AC...
Met police using surveillance system to monitor mobile phones
Gallagher, Ryan; Syal, Rejeev
2011
Civil liberties group raises concerns over Met police purchase of technology to track public handsets over a targeted area.
Miners' strike: senior officer was 'appalled' at conduct of other police
Townsend, Mark
2012
A senior police officer breaks ranks to describe how he and others were "appalled" at the behaviour of colleagues during the 1984-85 miners' strike in the UK, as calls mount for a fresh inquiry into t...
Police actions in Ferguson, U.S. interfere with freedoms of assembly, press
Human Rights Watch
2015
Though the majority of the Ferguson protests were peacful, the police still responded with overwhelming military force. Journalists were one of thier specific targets.
Police log 'domestic extremists' and keep database on activists
Forces survey and file details of peaceful protests and political activities
Lewis, Paul; Evans, Rob; Taylor, Matthew
2009
'Domestic Extremists' are persons involved in political meetings and protests who are photographed and added to a national database by the UK police. This surveillance falls under the purview of "ter...
Political activists call for inquiry after revelations about undercover police
Thompson, Tony
2010
Protest groups that were targeted by infiltrators plan legal action to obtain access to police files after disclosures by Officer A.
Shedding light on the use of SWAT teams
Blako, Radley
2014
A new bill in Utah that would require the state's police agencies to report statistics about how and how often they use their SWAT and tactical teams has just unanimously passed a committee in the sta...
UK police will soon start bagging people's heads during arrests
2016
Metropolitan Police officers will soon be able to use specially designed bags, known as spit hoods, to cover suspects’ heads during arrests and in police stations. The mesh bags are used to restrain s...
US has a new tool to control the masses
No one should want the state to have power to strip your clothes off. And yet that's what is happening, thanks to the supreme court
Wolf, Naomi
2012
Denouncing a new US Supreme court ruling that allows police to strip search any person who is placed under arrest for any offence at any time. Wolf says this state sanctioned sexual humiliation is a t...

From the Connexions Archives

The Body Politic
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1978
The Body Politic - a magazine for gay liberation is aimed at the building of a gay movement and spreading gay consciousness. The paper features social and political issues representing the struggle ...