Protesting? Atlanta PD is Watching

The Atlanta Police Department routinely places under surveillance anti-war protesters and others exercising their free-speech rights to demonstrate, police officials acknowledged this week.

While the APD denies the taping is akin to spying, demonstrators, civil libertarians and some elected officials disagree and demand that the surveillance be stopped.

And, in an era of tighter budgets, critics say taxpayer dollars are being wasted.

"This use of police resources is highly questionable and can very much have a chilling effect on people's sense that they can exercise their constitutional rights without appearing in somebody's database," said state Rep. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), the House majority whip. "This harkens back to some very dark times in our nation's history."

The police department denied requests to interview officers in charge of the Special Investigations Unit and declined to answer specific questions about surveillance activities.

In an e-mail message, APD spokesman Sgt. John Quigley wrote: "The Intelligence Unit will routinely video demonstrations if there is any possibility of confrontation or violence. Occasionally the intelligence unit receives information that the group holding the protest is a possible target. The tape gives us proof of those present in a calm atmosphere before any escalation occurs."

There seemed little likelihood of confrontation or violence when 50 demonstrators gathered in Midtown on May 9 for "A Mother's Day Declaration of Peace."

Weekly routine

Every Friday for the last 40 weeks, a coalition of religious, women's and anti-war groups have gathered outside the office of Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) to protest the war in Iraq. Three weeks ago, the activists — some dressed in 1800s garb in honor of the founder of Mother's Day — noticed a woman in an unmarked car videotaping their rally.

Bobbie Paul, president of Women's Action for New Directions, approached the woman, handed her a leaflet and asked what she was doing.

The woman said she was with "intelligence," according to Paul, and that she often taped anti-war, anti-abortion, pro-environment and other demonstrators.

The woman soon drove off.

The police were doing "something that seemed so clandestine," said Paul, whose group sponsors the Midtown rallies. "It does seem like an infringement of our rights."

Quigley responded: "Spying implies secrecy. The person taping was in plain view, in a public area and made no secret of the employer."

Overzealous surveillance by police during the turbulent civil rights and Vietnam War eras prompted local and federal bans on most monitoring of citizens engaged in political activity.

Change since attacks

Ever since the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, though, the Bush administration and Congress have loosened rules prohibiting collection of information on U.S. citizens.

The Patriot Act, passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, widened the federal government's investigative and prosecutorial powers, including sweeping new powers on wiretaps and electronic and computer searches.

The U.S. Justice Department is reportedly trying to expand the nation's surveillance techniques.

The proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act would abolish court-approved limits on local police surveillance of religious and political activity.

Cities large and small have ramped up surveillance since Sept. 11, 2001.

The Los Angeles Police Department, for example, now is authorized to keep files on anti-war protesters it deems capable of "a significant disruption of the public order."

Miami police videotape demonstrators and infiltrate rallies with plainclothes officers, said Detective Joey Giordano with the Miami-Dade Police Department. Most of the surveillance, he said, is targeted at Haitian and Cuban immigrants protesting federal policies.

"We do intelligence gathering to find out if there will be any further criminal action," Giordano said. "We take a pro-active approach. [And] we sure do have intelligence on certain people."

Quigley wrote that "no files are being created" on Atlantans.

Rep. Orrock wants proof.

"If they're truly out there for the people's safety, you would re-use the tape the minute the event was over. I doubt they're doing that," she said. "I fully expect these images that they capture are going to be held within the intelligence unit. What future uses will they put them to? We'd all like to know."

Other views

Not every city is ratcheting up surveillance of its citizens. In Denver last month, in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the police department agreed to end its decades-long practice of compiling secret files on protesters. More than 3,400 individuals, including Quakers and Roman Catholic nuns, were targeted by Denver police.

Philadelphia's City Council this week adopted a nonbinding resolution condemning the Patriot Act as a "threat to fundamental rights." That made the city the 115th — and the largest — to adopt such a resolution.

Three states — Alaska, Hawaii and Vermont — have also adopted new civil liberties resolutions.

The ACLU in Atlanta is monitoring the police department's surveillance activities.

"Surveillance and photographing protesters without a history of violence is an improper role for the police department and a deterrent to free-speech activity," said Gerry Weber, legal director for the ACLU of Georgia. "Police officers' time would be far better spent looking for murderers and rapists than following peaceful demonstrators. It's a tremendous misuse of precious police resources."