textfiles-politics/pythonCode/personTestingOutput/pigspy.xml

<xml><p>Downloaded from <ent type='ORG'>AMNET</ent> (312) 436-3062 Chicago's Civil Liberties BBS
PROOF OF NATIONWIDE POLICE POLITICAL SPYING NETWORK
REVEALED IN <ent type='GPE'>CHICAGO</ent> LITIGATION</p>

<p> by Chip Berlet</p>

<p> The belated production of a set of correspondence files from
the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> Police Department Intelligence Unit (CPD/ID) has
confirmed suspicions that an informal nationwide network for
sharing political dossiers among police and private intelligence
agencies existed for several decades prior to 1975.</p>

<p> The documents were assumed to have been destroyed as part of
an attempt by the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> Police Department to sanitize their
intelligence files after a police informant warned superiors
in 1974 that a lawsuit against political spying was planned by a
<ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> coalition group called <ent type='ORG'>the Alliance</ent> to End Repression and
other activist groups.</p>

<p> "All of the agencies received from, or sent to, the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent>
Police Department Intelligence Division information regarding the
lawful political activity of citizens," said plaintiff's attorney
<ent type='PERSON'>Richard Gutman</ent>.</p>

<p> The existence of the "Transmittal Files" was inadvertantly
discovered in September of 1984 - seven years after a <ent type='ORG'>Federal</ent>
Judge had ordered their production in pre-trial discovery
proceedings. The files show that 159 agencies in 33 states
throughout the nation received political spying files from, or
sent such files to, the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> Police Department Intelligence
Division. </p>

<p> The agencies include 100 municipal police departments, 26
state law enforcement agencies, 16 county sheriffs offices, and
17 other public and private agencies.</p>

<p> "While many concerned civil libertarians have been convinced
of the existence of politically-motivated activity by their local
police, they have frequently been frustrated by the need for
concrete proof." said <ent type='PERSON'>Frank Donner</ent>. <ent type='PERSON'>Donner</ent>, author of The Age of
Surveillance (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1980), the definitive work on
political surveillance in <ent type='GPE'>the United</ent> States, called for a
"remedial campaign to abolish such abuses."</p>

<p> <ent type='PERSON'>Gutman</ent>, has been providing the police reports to lawyers
pursuing litigation against local police agencies for illegal
political surveillance. He says he is willing to discuss the
terms of a court protective order covering the material with
legitimate legal representatives of individuals or groups
contemplating such litigation. So far eleven attorneys or
representatives of legal groups have contacted <ent type='PERSON'>Gutman</ent> for copies
of relevant documents. Numerous named individuals have asked for
and received copies of their files as well.</p>

<p> According to <ent type='PERSON'>Gutman</ent>, the following examples are typical of
the material discussed in the Transmittal Files:</p>

<p> *The Texas Department of Public Safety ("<ent type='ORG'>Texas Rangers</ent>")
sought "any pertinent information related to subversive
activities or affiliations" regarding <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> attorney <ent type='PERSON'>Terry Yale</ent>
Feiertag. The <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> police responded that attorney Feiertag was
employed by an organization whic provided legal aid to low income
groups and in civil rights cases;</p>

<p> *The <ent type='NORP'>Indianapolis</ent> Police Department sought "any data"
regarding Clergy and Laity Concerned About <ent type='GPE'>Vietnam</ent>. The <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent>
police in response sent information about the group's lawful
anti-war activities;</p>

<p> *<ent type='ORG'>The Detroit Police Department</ent> sought information regarding
<ent type='PERSON'>Lucy Montgomery</ent>. in response the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> police sent <ent type='GPE'>Detroit</ent> a
four-page report detailing Mrs. Montgomery's lawful political
activities.</p>

<p> Although the federal district court on May 4, 1977, ordered
the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> Police Department to produce all such transmittal
files, the files were not produced for inspection until September
25, 1984, seven years after the order. The plaintiffs in the
lawsuit filed a motion to have the <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> Police Department held
in contempt for failing to obey the court order. <ent type='ORG'>Federal</ent> Judge
<ent type='PERSON'>Susan Getzendanner</ent> denied the motion. </p>

<p> It is almost certain the files originally were intentionally
withheld to prevent discovery by the plaintiffs. However it is
unclear at what point in the lengthy litigation, which saw
defendants take several different legal postures regarding what
documents were covered by the discovery order, that the fact of
the files existence became lost in the mountains of paperwork. </p>

<p> <ent type='ORG'>The Corporation Counsel</ent> for <ent type='GPE'>the City</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> sought to
block <ent type='PERSON'>Gutman</ent> from providing the documents to plaintiffs
litigators in other cities. This is ironic because the current
Mayor, <ent type='PERSON'>Harold Washington</ent>, was for many years an outspoken critic
of <ent type='ORG'>the CPD Intelligence Unit</ent> and its civil liberties violations.
While still a Congressional Representative and while running for
the Mayoral post, he described himself publicly as a victim of
illegal police spying. </p>

<p> Now, in a recent court proceeding, attorneys representing
<ent type='GPE'>the City</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> tried unsuccessfully to block paralegals
working on an <ent type='ORG'>ACLU</ent> spying case in <ent type='GPE'>California</ent> from having access
to CPD/ID materials already provided to the <ent type='ORG'>ACLU</ent> attorneys in
that case. </p>

<p> <ent type='GPE'>The City</ent> of <ent type='GPE'>Chicago</ent> attorneys successfully blocked release
of files relating to <ent type='GPE'>Michigan</ent> to <ent type='GPE'>Michigan</ent> state representative
<ent type='PERSON'>Perry Bullard</ent>. Bullard, Chairperson of the <ent type='GPE'>Michigan</ent> House
Judiciary Committee, had requested access to the files to
evaluate "the necessity for new state legislation regulating
surveillance by <ent type='GPE'>Michigan</ent> state and local law enforcement
agencies." Judge <ent type='PERSON'>Getzendanner</ent>, who has expressed thinly-veiled
displeasure from the bench that the case remains on the docket,
ruled that a subpoena from the <ent type='GPE'>Michigan</ent> legislative body would be
required.</p>

<p><ent type='ORG'>Electronic Osmosis</ent> by <ent type='GPE'>New York</ent> On-Line 718-852-2662




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<p> Another file downloaded from: NIRVANAnet(tm)</p>

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