Greetings, friends! Here’s what we’ve been up to:
On Tuesday (4/25), the Coalition was in court contesting a temporary restraining order (TRO) the city tried to enact against the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. The TRO sought to prevent the Coalition from sharing images of LAPD officers on our website watchthewatchers.net. The TRO was dismissed by the judge, securing the first of many victories for the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, in the city’s frivolous and politically motivated case against us.
That evening we held our monthly Data Driven Policing Meeting, where we discussed these developments with the Watch the Watchers website, updates on our outreach efforts to notify the public of the upcoming council vote on LAPD’s robot dog, and our plans for May Day.
On Wednesday (4/26), the War on Youth work group continued our residency with students at Stem to the Future. This week students continued to plan their final project, organizing a direct action in support of healthier lunches in schools. Students planned the format of their action and created signs for the protest.
On Thursday’s (4/27) episode of Radio Insurrection, we spoke with Sheila Bates of BLM-LA. Sheila discussed the recent indictment of Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez, two Torrance Police Department officers, for the 2018 killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell. On the second half of the show, we had our very own Shakeer Rahman discussing the academy’s role in legitimizing police reform.
On Friday (4/28), we held a training session for our Watch the Watchers counter surveillance program! Stay plugged in to learn more about upcoming Watch the Watchers training.
To plug in with any of the work groups listed above, or for more information about the Stop
LAPD Spying Coalition, email us at stoplapdspying@gmail.com.
If you or your organization are interested in hosting a teach-in or discussion regarding our report, Automating Banishment, please fill out this google form.