Stop Police Spying and Urban Warfare NOW!

Two Berkeley Police Department (BPD) agreements, which violate our constitutional rights to privacy, free speech, assembly and equal treatment, will be up for renewal May 22. These agreements are the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) and the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI). The agreements, which are merely verbal, violate the Berkeley Municipal Code which requires that PD agreements be in writing before review and consideration by Berkeley City Council. Police Chief Meehan calls them “a general understanding, meaning there is no express agreement…”. *

The Council must sever ties with these programs now. NCRIC, coordinated with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, encourages the police to send Suspicious Activities Reports (SARs) to its data fusion center where they are stored permanently. SARs are based on non-criminal behaviors: taking a photo of a building, writing in a notebook, buying fertilizer, wearing a hoodie or headscarf etc. This leads to religious and racial profiling.

UASI is the program under which urban warfare exercises are conducted with local police departments. Police Magazine credited the “effectiveness” of the raid on Occupy Oakland to the urban warfare exercises, held shortly before, on the UC Berkeley campus. The BPD participated in these exercises. It also, together with Albany and U.C. police, hopes to get, through UASI funding, an armored vehicle to “disrupt, investigate and apprehend criminals”.

Also ask that the BPD not respond to Mutual Aid requests for Purely First Amendment activities and not respond to, or request aid from jurisdictions that use brutal tactics or so-called non-lethal weapons.
Do not support the Police Review Commission’s recommendation to approve NCRIC and UASI. These programs cannot be fixed. The program agreements are with the FBI and Homeland Security and are unavailable to the public.

Please ask the City Council to act now and NOT renew NCRIC and UASI. Both will expire June 30, 2012.

Tom Bates (510) 981-7100 Mayor
Linda Maio (510) 981-7110 District 1
Darryl Moore (510) 981 7120 District 2
Max Anderson (510) 981-7130 District 3
Jesse Arreguin (510) 981-7140 District 4

Laurie Capitelli (510) 981-7150 District 5
Susan Wengraf (510) 981-7160 District 6
Kriss Worthington (510) 981-7170 District 7 (The only No vote!)
Gordon Wozniak (510) 981-7180 District 8

SuperBOLD
For more information call (510) 843-2152 or (510) 548-6310

*5/15/12 Council Agenda Packet, 41b