Organizing against and exposing institutions complicit in expanding and legitimizing the police state
Our organizing to abolish the police estate targets include not only police agencies but also the ecosystem of academic, nonprofit, and research institutions who work with police to legitimize, strengthen, and expand police surveillance, including through the process of “police reform.” The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition formed in 2011, at a time when police reformers sought to “improve” national security surveillance by demanding better rules for it, for example criteria that would not overtly discriminate against Muslim communities. We recognized that these efforts would empower police everywhere to expand surveillance. We also exposed the reform nonprofits who were collaborating with LAPD and federal officials to develop laws codifying and blessing police surveillance, and we have continued to organize against surveillance “oversight” reforms that take this approach.
Our work to confront academic institutions complicit in policing is also rooted in our campaigns against LAPD’s “data-driven policing” and “community policing” programs. As we organized against those programs, we saw how police developed these programs in close collaboration with nonprofits and academic researchers. In particular, UCLA academics were complicit in the development, “evaluation,” and expansion of the PredPol “predictive policing” program as well as LAPD’s Community Safety Partnerships program. We mobilized campus resistance to UCLA’s ties to those programs. We are currently working with student groups, campus organizations, and allied faculty to uncover other forms of academic complicity in policing in universities across the country. Through this work, we have built strong ties between communities impacted by surveillance and campus institutions that are working to confront these harms.
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Another “Reform” Proposal Expanding the Police State
Last summer LAPD violently cracked down on the George Floyd rebellion, arresting over 4,000 people. Throughout history, politicians have responded to LAPD’s violence toward critics with expansions of police resources rather than addressing the community’s criticism. This same cycle of police crackdowns followed by police expansion followed the Ferguson uprising, the 1992 uprising, and the … Continue reading Another “Reform” Proposal Expanding the Police State
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PT 75: Universities, Academia, and the Police: Collaborators in the Settler State
WEBINAR PART 75 Recording Here – Tuesday September 28th at 6PM Recordings of Webinars 1 – 74 HERE — Surveillance 101 Teach-In: 1 – 4 HERE Not A Moment In Time: Zine Issue: 1 – 2 HERE The National Security Police State always uses crisis like this to expand oppression, to expand surveillance, accumulate new … Continue reading PT 75: Universities, Academia, and the Police: Collaborators in the Settler State
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PT 74: Police State, 9/11 and Non-Profit Complicity
WEBINAR PART 74 Recording Here – Tuesday September 21st at 6PM Recordings of Webinars 1 – 73 HERE — Surveillance 101 Teach-In: 1 – 4 HERE Not A Moment In Time: Zine Issue: 1 – 2 HERE The National Security Police State always uses crisis like this to expand oppression, to expand surveillance, accumulate new … Continue reading PT 74: Police State, 9/11 and Non-Profit Complicity
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Anti-Blackness and the National Security Police State that Civil Liberties Advocacy Built
As the U.S. commemorates another anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, civil liberties organizations and Muslim advocacy groups have had a lot to say about the Islamophobia of the past two decades. Islamophobia is of course a real source of violence. But far beyond the impact on Muslim communities, we must recognize post-9/11 demonization of Muslim, … Continue reading Anti-Blackness and the National Security Police State that Civil Liberties Advocacy Built
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PT 66: Police State, and Academic and Corporate Complicity
WEBINAR PART 66 Recording Here – Tuesday July 13th at 6PM Recordings of Webinars 1 – 65 HERE — Surveillance 101 Teach-In: 1 – 4 HERE Not A Moment In Time: Zine Issue: 1 – 2 HERE The National Security Police State always uses crisis like this to expand oppression, to expand surveillance, accumulate new … Continue reading PT 66: Police State, and Academic and Corporate Complicity
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Stop LAPD Spying Sues LAPD to Uncover Communications with UCLA Professor Who Founded PredPol, Inc.
The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition filed a public records lawsuit today challenging LAPD’s refusal to turn over emails between police officials and P. Jeffrey Brantingham, a widely condemned UCLA anthropology professor who collaborated with LAPD to test and promote a discredited “predictive” policing technology. Professor Brantingham is the founder of PredPol, which sells racist police … Continue reading Stop LAPD Spying Sues LAPD to Uncover Communications with UCLA Professor Who Founded PredPol, Inc.