Watching the Cops on Cinco de Mayo

I started the night of Cinco de Mayo with a group of people from the San Jose community who gathered together to help out the local community. These are some of the things I saw and witnessed as I walked with the group that evening.

The night began like any ordinary night in San Jose. The sky was clear and it was not too cold outside. The only difference between this night and any other was the fact that the COPS were being WATCHED. They were under surveillance by members of the San Jose community who were out that night to protect the youth and other people who were out enjoying the Cinco De Mayo weekend. The members of the community came together because of the history of unlawful and questionable tactics of the SJPD and the way they treat the minorities and others who were out enjoying the night.

As soon as the police knew they were being watched they were instantly tense. They stood alert and became stone faced and stoic. They did not want to make eye contact or be videotaped. They did not want the public to watch them or have a clue of what they were up to that evening. The COPWATCHERS stood out of the officer's way and documented the events that unfolded that evening.

There were officers who were filmed that were attempting to search under age minors for no other reason but being out past their curfew. Many times I heard the officers yelling at young people walking by saying, “Hey come here!” and “How old are you?” and “Wait stop come back, I am talking to you!” Also for some odd reason the male cops seem to be asking the younger women these questions of age and ID more often.

The cops were even getting upset a couple of the times in the night. A white cop ordered a car with four Chicano youths to turn down their music even though just about every other car was playing their music loud. Why were these youths singled out? This car of youths also had a Mexican flag hanging out the window just like any other car that was out that night. The officer also told them to, “roll up that flag and put it inside.” The youths soon complied and the officer walked away. About five minutes later the youths turned up their music and because they were stuck in the traffic they only moved a couple of feet from their previous spot. The same officer soon came over to their window and leaned in and said, “I told you to turn down that music…roll up the flag and put it in the car now.” The question that came to mind was why were they being singled out when everyone else was doing the same thing? Was it because they were young, brown, and listening to rap music? Or was it because they were young and the officers seeing this took advantage of the moment to harass them.

There was another time when an officer grabbed a young Chicano from behind and pulled him off a mountain bike and proceeded to place his arms behind his back. Unfortunately this incident was not taped on video but it was witnessed by two different people who saw and talked about this incident. The only part caught on tape was the after effect. The officer proceeded to search the individual and called in some other officers while another five to six officers were just talking nearby not paying too much attention. Some officers were walking in front of the video camera and standing in front to prevent the filming of what was happening. This tactic of the standing and walking in front of the video camera to block the view was used throughout the night.

I thought the Chief spoke with the leaders of the Latino community saying everything is fine. So the more often the officers did this it made the COPWATCHERS more determined to film and document what they were trying to cover up and to speak to people who were harassed to find out what the root issue was of the stop.

There was also a young man who spoke of the officers taking away his video tape and camera in the past. He is not from San Jose but was here visiting then and now. He said they just said, “Give me that video tape” and they took it from him. This made the youth scared to show his video camera in front of the officers because of the fear of the officers taking it from him again. This youth soon became happy after talking with the COPWATCHERS and learning his rights he soon pulled out his video camera and walked down the street to catch up with his friends. So why are the officers afraid of the video camera? What are they hiding?

There were also times when the COPWATCHERS were told to “Keep it moving now” even though it was their right to film. They were also told to not videotape and they did not have the right. This was strange for this writer to hear the officer say this to the COPWATCHERS because the officers also had their own video camera guy that evening and were filming the COPWATCHERS as well. The Santa Clara County Probation Department was also taking pictures of the COPWATCHERS as they met and were talking about going to get a meal to eat for themselves.

Many youth were being stopped and questioned for no apparent reason but being brown and walking down the street. There must have been more than forty people walking around back and forth on both sides of the street talking with friends and enjoying each others company. No violence was breaking out. Everything was peaceful. People young and old were enjoying and watching the nice looking cars drive up and down the street showing off their beautiful paint jobs and the roar of their engines. The sound of the music playing from the cars was also very nice.

The officers were also hanging out themselves. They had a parking lot with a truck with food and tables and chairs for them to enjoy a meal at. How many homeless people did not eat that night that live in the downtown area?

So all night the officers stopped people for no other apparent reason than being young and in the company of their friends. There were stops of youth when an officer was going to search a young person, and as soon as one officer saw the video camera taping the other officer he immediately walked over to the other officer and talked in his ear and nodded his head in the direction of the video camera. The two officers then both stopped and looked over at the video camera. Soon thereafter the officer let the youth go. So what would have happened if the video camera was not there?

There were times when people walking down the street and would stop the COPWATCHERS and say “Who are you” “What is this a documentary?” The COPWATCHERS would then stop walking and talk and explain that they were there to protect the community from police harassment and if any harassment was going to happen it would be well documented. Most of the COPWATCHERS had some form of media to document the events that night.

To this writers' surprise the people were very happy the COPWATCHERS were there. Some said, “Its about time” others said, “Yes that's right keep up the good work.” So maybe with the COPWATCHERS being there people felt more safe and were able to enjoy themselves because COPWATCH was out patrolling that night.

The next day the news reported no major violence if any that Saturday evening in San Jose. Which was a big difference compared to last year. Was it because of the COPWATCHERS? This writer wonders.