top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Bad Cop Santa Cruz

by Bad Cop (badcopsc [at] gmail.com)
Bad Cop focuses on police accountability, know your rights education, and the dissemination of effective tactics to utilize while documenting police in Santa Cruz County.
640_welcome-to-santa-cruz.jpg
We seek to document the abuse of authority and highlight the double standard that some grant to those with badges. By documenting police actions – whether they are illegal, immoral or just a waste of time and resources – we encourage transparency and hold police accountable. If you are familiar with CopWatch projects, this is a way of documenting what we see when we are watching.

You are invited to document your own CopWatch activities and file your own Bad Cop Reports here. Additionally, if you are fighting police in criminal or civil court, the police abuses documented here may be useful in proving an officer's (or an agency's) history of abuse, excessive force, discriminatory prosecution, brutality, perjury, or incompetence.

This is the accountability arm of a larger Police Obsolescence project, working toward a world without police. Some of the efforts of this project include CopWatch, know your rights education, police accountability, alternatives to calling the police, and education about police, courts, and jails.

http://badcopsc.blogspot.com

Please spread the word, especially among your acquaintances who are members of vulnerable populations.

Contact us at badcopsc[at]gmail.com
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Robert Norse
The bottom line at the Drum Circle Police Riot in September 2008 was that two police officers, Sgt. Harms and another, as part of their ongoing harassment of the Wednesday Drum Circle, created a near riot by falsely arresting Jack. Apparently retaliating for what was the routine setting aside of the the plastic green mesh city bureaucrats had been putting up around the Drum Circle area regularly to drive away the drummers, dancers, and Food Not Bombs. (The area is now occupied by Manthri Srinath's Lulu Carpenter's kiosk).
See Grrrant's story at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/17/18539316.php .

Rusk, according to admissions made later by others, was not in fact "guilty" (of restoring the area to public use). Modes did continue to beat on his drum next to Harms while the two of them struggled with Rusk surrounded by a growing crowd of watchers, angry at the police action.

Modes was taken to the hospital afterwards. Harms sustained no significant injuries. The notion that Modes "assaulted" Harms with his drum is ridiculous. The brouhaha was created by Harms and his superiors

To his credit, Harms declined to appear as a witness against the last case of an arrest at the Drum Circle (now deported to the levee behind India Joze restaurant every Wednesday 3 PM). In the James-in-the-Rain case, Harms originally arrested James for not moving quickly enough to leave the levee after sunset. When James appeared in court with lots of photos, Harms ultimately agreed to dismiss the case "in the interests of justice". I believe it wasn't simply the photos but a recognition that the prosecution was a bad idea.

The new Bad Cop Santa Cruz could use more stories (perhaps with somewhat more verbal specifics) like this one from Berkeley:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/13/18320184.php .
by Phineas
I really miss the drum circle. Fuck the fascists who took away this traditional and ancient place of peace so they could make more money. I go to the site every week still to mourn the loss of this community temple.

I love me some delicious Lulu's coffee, so I always buy an Africano when I'm there, but fuck, man, it's just not right.
by Phogg
I went to the Westside Farmers Market on Saturday, and there was Lulu's again, selling coffee. I know they like to trample on travelers and the poor whenever they can, so I'm wondering if they displaced a drum circle there too. Does anyone know? Robert?

Of course, the coffee was the most fucking incredibly delicious coffee I've ever had, again, but still, if they took out another drum circle, I'm going to be pissed.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network