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Statement on Surveillance of Lawful Democratic Participation
Press Statement from Peace Fresno
Statement on Surveillance of Lawful Democratic Participation.
Peace Fresno is an activist organization dedicated to peace, social justice, and alternatives to war.
A Fresno. County deputy sheriff infiltrated Peace Fresno. For 6 months he participated in our meetings and events. He used a false name, lied about his occupation, and pretended to be sympathetic to our views. We gave him our trust.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer has recently stated that this kind of surveillance is illegal under the California Constitution. It is, however, permitted under the Patriot Act, and now we know why the Patriot Act is so dangerous. Peace Fresno has actively opposed the Patriot Act since September 11, 2001.
After we discovered this deception, attorney Catherine Campbell wrote a letter to Sheriff Richard Pierce on our behalf. We asked: Was Aaron Kilner part of an undercover investigation conducted by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department or any other law enforcement agency?
Sheriff Pierce's response confirms that a deputy sheriff was working undercover at Peace Fresno. In his letter, Sheriff Pierce does not deny that the police officer was surveilling Peace Fresno, but denies he was investigating Peace Fresno. The sheriff knows an investigation requires evidence of a crime, and he knows Peace Fresno has never engaged in criminal activity.
We know a deputy sheriff was undercover at our meetings. We want to know why Peace Fresno was targeted.
Someone assigned the deputy sheriff to Peace Fresno. We want to know who made this assignment.
Most important, we want to know what other community organizations, religious groups and political groups are under surveillance by law enforcement in Fresno.
Peace Fresno will not be intimidated. We will continue to work for nonviolent solutions to terrorism and militarism. We'll continue our dedication to social justice. And, we'll continue to champion civil rights and civil liberties.
We'll exercise our duties as citizens on October 15 when George Bush comes to Fresno.
We at Peace Fresno believe that spending money on surveillance of peace groups is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. The board of Peace Fresno has decided to return Deputy Kilner's $12 membership fee to the Sheriff's Department so it can be used for the genuine protection of the people of Fresno.
Presented at Conference by: Camille Russell and Nicholas DeGraff
**************************************
The photo is from the Peace Fresno press conference held in front of the Sheriff's Department in downtown Fresno on Sunday, October 5
Photo by: Mike Rhodes
Peace Fresno is an activist organization dedicated to peace, social justice, and alternatives to war.
A Fresno. County deputy sheriff infiltrated Peace Fresno. For 6 months he participated in our meetings and events. He used a false name, lied about his occupation, and pretended to be sympathetic to our views. We gave him our trust.
Attorney General Bill Lockyer has recently stated that this kind of surveillance is illegal under the California Constitution. It is, however, permitted under the Patriot Act, and now we know why the Patriot Act is so dangerous. Peace Fresno has actively opposed the Patriot Act since September 11, 2001.
After we discovered this deception, attorney Catherine Campbell wrote a letter to Sheriff Richard Pierce on our behalf. We asked: Was Aaron Kilner part of an undercover investigation conducted by the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department or any other law enforcement agency?
Sheriff Pierce's response confirms that a deputy sheriff was working undercover at Peace Fresno. In his letter, Sheriff Pierce does not deny that the police officer was surveilling Peace Fresno, but denies he was investigating Peace Fresno. The sheriff knows an investigation requires evidence of a crime, and he knows Peace Fresno has never engaged in criminal activity.
We know a deputy sheriff was undercover at our meetings. We want to know why Peace Fresno was targeted.
Someone assigned the deputy sheriff to Peace Fresno. We want to know who made this assignment.
Most important, we want to know what other community organizations, religious groups and political groups are under surveillance by law enforcement in Fresno.
Peace Fresno will not be intimidated. We will continue to work for nonviolent solutions to terrorism and militarism. We'll continue our dedication to social justice. And, we'll continue to champion civil rights and civil liberties.
We'll exercise our duties as citizens on October 15 when George Bush comes to Fresno.
We at Peace Fresno believe that spending money on surveillance of peace groups is a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars. The board of Peace Fresno has decided to return Deputy Kilner's $12 membership fee to the Sheriff's Department so it can be used for the genuine protection of the people of Fresno.
Presented at Conference by: Camille Russell and Nicholas DeGraff
**************************************
The photo is from the Peace Fresno press conference held in front of the Sheriff's Department in downtown Fresno on Sunday, October 5
Photo by: Mike Rhodes
For more information:
http://www.peacefresno.org
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Deputy Kilner should stop spying on Peace Fresno, join the National Guard and ship off to Iraq so he can get real first hand knowledge of what Peace Fresno is all about.
Perhaps 16 months having stones and worse flying in his direction will knock some sense into him.
Perhaps 16 months having stones and worse flying in his direction will knock some sense into him.
To Peace Fresno:
Don't worry. We are not "out to get you", or anything like that.
We are simply observing your public activities. There's nothing illegal or unethical about what we are doing.
But it is common for groups like yours to be infiltrated by subversives and/or criminals. So, for your own protection, and for reasons of national security, we will continue to monitor you and other groups like you.
Do not be offended. As long as you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to be concerned about.
Don't worry. We are not "out to get you", or anything like that.
We are simply observing your public activities. There's nothing illegal or unethical about what we are doing.
But it is common for groups like yours to be infiltrated by subversives and/or criminals. So, for your own protection, and for reasons of national security, we will continue to monitor you and other groups like you.
Do not be offended. As long as you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to be concerned about.
Readers of this press statement might be interested in going to:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/10/1650550
for more information about this case.
http://www.indybay.org/news/2003/10/1650550
for more information about this case.
To Peace Fresno:
Yes, we agree that the above referenced article is very helpful, although we would like to see a bit more respect shown for us in future articles. After all, I think we cann all agree that are work is important in times like these, for national security.
As we said in the earlier post, those who do nothing wrong have nothing to fear.
Yes, we agree that the above referenced article is very helpful, although we would like to see a bit more respect shown for us in future articles. After all, I think we cann all agree that are work is important in times like these, for national security.
As we said in the earlier post, those who do nothing wrong have nothing to fear.
Maybe Peace Fresno needs to infiltrate the police / sheriff's department. As long as those cops aren't doing anything wrong, they won't need to worry.
Or, better still, why bother 'infiltrating' ? Just show up whenever you have free time, maybe on your lunch hour, and pull up a chair at whatever police meeting or work is being done, and explain that you are observing as a Fresno resident. As long as they aren't breaking any laws or causing any trouble, you won't make any citizen's arrests. You need to make sure that terrorists aren't infiltrating the police dept in Fresno. Tell them to simply go on about their duties while you watch.
Or, better still, why bother 'infiltrating' ? Just show up whenever you have free time, maybe on your lunch hour, and pull up a chair at whatever police meeting or work is being done, and explain that you are observing as a Fresno resident. As long as they aren't breaking any laws or causing any trouble, you won't make any citizen's arrests. You need to make sure that terrorists aren't infiltrating the police dept in Fresno. Tell them to simply go on about their duties while you watch.
Peace Fresno is worried because the government has done something wrong. When law enforcement gives an officer lying as his job assignment, it undermines the trust we should have in law enforcement. We are citizens, and law enforcement acts in our name, and when it acts badly, and lies to us, we are shamed by it. We don't need or want protection that undermines our trust in each other and in our government. Under the California Constitution and according to the California Attorney General, the infiltration of law abiding political groups is illegal.
I don't know where you got your law degree, but you better ask for a refund.
There's a big difference between "infiltrating" and "observing" or "monitoring". Law enforcement agencies are perfectly welcome to do these. And if you read the provisions of the Patriot Act (which certainly supercedes all California state laws), you would know that even infiltrations (within certain limits) is perfectly proper.
There's a big difference between "infiltrating" and "observing" or "monitoring". Law enforcement agencies are perfectly welcome to do these. And if you read the provisions of the Patriot Act (which certainly supercedes all California state laws), you would know that even infiltrations (within certain limits) is perfectly proper.
Totalitarianism is: freedom only for those who are doing nothing "wrong".
"And if you read the provisions of the Patriot Act (which certainly supercedes all California state laws), you would know that even infiltrations (within certain limits) is perfectly proper."
WHOA!! Hold the freakin' phone here!
Ever hear of "state soverignty"? Maybe the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution?!
Even according to the USC, Washington only has authority over national borders and matters of inter-state commerce. Beyond these, STATE LAW IS SUPREME.
Funny how few people understand this anymore. And scary, when half those people call themselves "law enforcement".
Why do you think we HAVE state laws? A state Constitution? State borders? State rulers? You think it's all just supposed ot be one big federal octopus?!
The founding fathers knew not to trust career politicians, NOR POLICE. So they built a system of government that was primarily decentralized.
Unfortunately that system has been turned on its head over the course of 225 years.
-Van
WHOA!! Hold the freakin' phone here!
Ever hear of "state soverignty"? Maybe the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution?!
Even according to the USC, Washington only has authority over national borders and matters of inter-state commerce. Beyond these, STATE LAW IS SUPREME.
Funny how few people understand this anymore. And scary, when half those people call themselves "law enforcement".
Why do you think we HAVE state laws? A state Constitution? State borders? State rulers? You think it's all just supposed ot be one big federal octopus?!
The founding fathers knew not to trust career politicians, NOR POLICE. So they built a system of government that was primarily decentralized.
Unfortunately that system has been turned on its head over the course of 225 years.
-Van
"Even according to the USC, Washington only has authority over national borders and matters of inter-state commerce. Beyond these, STATE LAW IS SUPREME. " Not so. Roe V Wade struck down laws against abortion in all 50 states, and abortion has been legal ever since.
Was putting the monument of the Ten Commandments in that courthouse in Alabama an act of interstate commerce? Yet everyone and his brother knew that monument was going to be removed by some authority, somewhere, because it was a violation of the US Constitution, never mind how Alabama feels about it.
I am not saying I like the current situation, or even that the founding fathers intended it this way. But it's the reality.
Was putting the monument of the Ten Commandments in that courthouse in Alabama an act of interstate commerce? Yet everyone and his brother knew that monument was going to be removed by some authority, somewhere, because it was a violation of the US Constitution, never mind how Alabama feels about it.
I am not saying I like the current situation, or even that the founding fathers intended it this way. But it's the reality.
Aaron Kilner is dead, so he can't go to Iraq. They discovered who he was when he was run over and they read the obituary.
"common for your groups to be infiltrated by subversives"
umm, every sane person in the world is working to subvert the war, so everyone's a target, eh?
umm, every sane person in the world is working to subvert the war, so everyone's a target, eh?
Surveillance of socialist Subversives
AS MUCH AS YOU SNIVEL ABOUT BEING INVESTIGATED THERE MUST BE SOMETHING TO HIDE...
why investigate a bunch of no-body's why put county money into an investigation that they know will go no where?
AS MUCH AS YOU SNIVEL ABOUT BEING INVESTIGATED THERE MUST BE SOMETHING TO HIDE...
why investigate a bunch of no-body's why put county money into an investigation that they know will go no where?
Troubling disclosure
Sheriff has no business spying on people, activities without evidence.
(Published Saturday, October 11, 2003, 5:55 AM)
Look carefully at that woman in the back at your religious studies meeting this week. Peek at the notes being taken by the quiet guy who's on the committee planning the demonstration at Blackstone and Shaw avenues. Isn't there something odd about that new person in your veterans group who gave you a blank stare when you vented about the latest U.S. body count in Iraq?
The nation's concern about personal liberties vs. national security has become exceedingly personal recently, as members of Peace Fresno found when they realized that an undercover sheriff's detective had been attending their meetings. We share their concerns.
The group members discovered this quite suddenly when they saw a photograph of an officer killed in an off-duty motorcycle accident Aug. 30. The deputy had been, group members are sure, attending their meetings for about two months. He called himself Aaron Stokes, and when people inquired about his profession, he said he was independently wealthy.
After his death, red flags of suspicion about the undercover detective -- actually, Aaron Kilner -- began to fly all over the group. The members were not sure at first what to do. So they asked their attorney, Catherine Campbell, to send a letter to Fresno County Sheriff Richard Pierce asking whether they were being investigated and, if so, what was reported.
That was a fair question. And even though the sheriff replied that they were not targets, it is understandable that they are concerned.
The officer used a false name while attending the meetings and those closest to the man say he had no time and no personal interest in participating in an organization like Peace Fresno.
At a time when the sheriff is saying he needs more money for officers to fight methamphetamine trafficking and other serious threats to public safety, we question using detectives' time to monitor a political group like Peace Fresno with apparently no evidence of criminal activity. This certainly raises questions about the sheriff's priorities.
In July, California law enforcement agencies were told by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer not to collect intelligence on religious or political groups without evidence of criminal activity. However, the federal Homeland Security Act of 2002 says that intelligence agents can look at acts of civil disobedience and minor lawbreaking.
For groups with violent histories or other reasons to be suspicious, that may be called for. But Fresno's Center for Nonviolence is not one of them.
If Peace Fresno is right, Sheriff Pierce needs to find better uses for his manpower.
Sheriff has no business spying on people, activities without evidence.
(Published Saturday, October 11, 2003, 5:55 AM)
Look carefully at that woman in the back at your religious studies meeting this week. Peek at the notes being taken by the quiet guy who's on the committee planning the demonstration at Blackstone and Shaw avenues. Isn't there something odd about that new person in your veterans group who gave you a blank stare when you vented about the latest U.S. body count in Iraq?
The nation's concern about personal liberties vs. national security has become exceedingly personal recently, as members of Peace Fresno found when they realized that an undercover sheriff's detective had been attending their meetings. We share their concerns.
The group members discovered this quite suddenly when they saw a photograph of an officer killed in an off-duty motorcycle accident Aug. 30. The deputy had been, group members are sure, attending their meetings for about two months. He called himself Aaron Stokes, and when people inquired about his profession, he said he was independently wealthy.
After his death, red flags of suspicion about the undercover detective -- actually, Aaron Kilner -- began to fly all over the group. The members were not sure at first what to do. So they asked their attorney, Catherine Campbell, to send a letter to Fresno County Sheriff Richard Pierce asking whether they were being investigated and, if so, what was reported.
That was a fair question. And even though the sheriff replied that they were not targets, it is understandable that they are concerned.
The officer used a false name while attending the meetings and those closest to the man say he had no time and no personal interest in participating in an organization like Peace Fresno.
At a time when the sheriff is saying he needs more money for officers to fight methamphetamine trafficking and other serious threats to public safety, we question using detectives' time to monitor a political group like Peace Fresno with apparently no evidence of criminal activity. This certainly raises questions about the sheriff's priorities.
In July, California law enforcement agencies were told by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer not to collect intelligence on religious or political groups without evidence of criminal activity. However, the federal Homeland Security Act of 2002 says that intelligence agents can look at acts of civil disobedience and minor lawbreaking.
For groups with violent histories or other reasons to be suspicious, that may be called for. But Fresno's Center for Nonviolence is not one of them.
If Peace Fresno is right, Sheriff Pierce needs to find better uses for his manpower.
Law enforcement is due NO respect! People who were victimized by Aaron Kilner are relieved and glad he's dead. One of them said to me, "another corrupt cop is off the street, where he can never hurt anyone else ever again."
If you dont like the protection that our law enforcement provides for us then here's an idea for you...I'll show up at a peace fresno meeting, kick the shit out of one of your members and then I'l go home...but dont call the PD remember...they're only out to get you!
It is exactly the facistic thinking reflected in 'law enforcement's comments that citizens must rise up against. This person's thinking is inimicable to a free society. It is scary how ignorant some people are.
Whoever wrote the violence threat under the name "J" belongs in jail. What is the matter with you ? You are a disgrace to the human race, you dirt bag.
There's a name for people who rely on the police to protect them. They're called victims.
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