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Neat file about Cop's Modus Operandi
The belated production of a set of correspondence files from the Chicago
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.
The documents were assumed to have been destroyed as part of an attempt
by the Chicago 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 Chicago coalition group called the Alliance to End
Repression and other activist groups.
"All of the agencies received from, or sent to, the Chicago Police
Department Intelligence Division information regarding the lawful political
activity of citizens," said plaintiff's attorney Richard Gutman.
The existence of the "Transmittal Files" was inadvertantly discovered in
September of 1984 - seven years after a Federal 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 Chicago Police Department Intelligence
Division.
The agencies include 100 municipal police departments, 26 state law
enforcement agencies, 16 county sheriffs offices, and 17 other public and
private agencies.
"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 Frank Donner.
Donner, author of The Age of Surveillance (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1980), the
definitive work on political surveillance in the United States, called for a
"remedial campaign to abolish such abuses."
Gutman, 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 Gutman for copies of relevant
documents. Numerous named individuals have asked for and received copies of
their files as well.
According to Gutman, the following examples are typical of the material
discussed in the Transmittal Files:
*The Texas Department of Public Safety ("Texas Rangers") sought "any
pertinent information related to subversive activities or affiliations"
regarding Chicago attorney Terry Yale Feiertag. The Chicago police responded
that attorney Feiertag was employed by an organization whic provided legal aid
to low income groups and in civil rights cases;
*The Indianapolis Police Department sought "any data" regarding Clergy
and Laity Concerned About Vietnam. The Chicago police in response sent
information about the group's lawful anti-war activities;
*The Detroit Police Department sought information regarding Lucy
Montgomery. in response the Chicago police sent Detroit a four-page report
detailing Mrs. Montgomery's lawful political activities.
Although the federal district court on May 4, 1977, ordered the Chicago
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 Chicago Police
Department held in contempt for failing to obey the court order. Federal
Judge Susan Getzendanner denied the motion.
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.
The Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago sought to block Gutman
from providing the documents to plaintiffs litigators in other cities. This
is ironic because the current Mayor, Harold Washington, was for many years an
outspoken critic of the CPD Intelligence Unit 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.
Now, in a recent court proceeding, attorneys representing the City of
Chicago tried unsuccessfully to block paralegals working on an ACLU spying case
in California from having access to CPD/ID materials already provided to the
ACLU attorneys in that case.
The City of Chicago attorneys successfully blocked release of files
relating to Michigan to Michigan state representative Perry Bullard. Bullard,
Chairperson of the Michigan House Judiciary Committee, had requested access to
the files to evaluate "the necessity for new state legislation regulating
surveillance by Michigan state and local law enforcement agencies." Judge
Getzendanner, who has expressed thinly-veiled displeasure from the bench that
the case remains on the docket, ruled that a subpoena from the Michigan
legislative body would be required.
Electronic Osmosis by New York On-Line 718-852-2662
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