Springfield cops are fully armed — with high-powered weapons supplied by the military. Which war do they think they’re fighting?
The Republican
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
By ANGELA CARBONE
A federal program that hands out surplus military equipment, including high-powered weapons, to local police departments has come under fire from the state.
Local law enforcement officials, however, say the weaponry provides trained forces with equipment that will prove invaluable if the unthinkable happens in their communities. Moreover, the costs of such equipment do not fall on the taxpayer.
Gov. Deval L. Patrick suspended the 1033 program, pending a state review, Terrel Harris, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday.
“We don’t know everything about it that we should know,” Read More »
Copwatch is hosting a Know Your Rights forum this Friday, March 20th at the Out Now office at 1695 Main Street, 2F in Springfield, MA.
Downlaod the flyer [PDF]
View Larger Map
February 3, 2009 – 11:10 pm
February 3, 2009 – 6:33 pm
In what can only be described as something out of HBO’s The Wire, local police show that whether it’s Baltimore, Holyoke or Springfield the cops are corrupt to the core.
It’s not the first time that Holyoke drug cop Paul Barkyoumb has had judges throw out his evidence, but it may be the most important. Barkyoumb and a state cop Daniel Soto have been called out for flat-out fabricating evidence against a suspected Springfield drug dealer. They invented some evidence, disappeared other evidence, and made-up reports about surveillance and informants.
In The Wire, When McNulty and Freamon concocted false evidence in order to catch a suspected drug kingpin, the plan backfired on them, ruining careers, lives, and ultimately seeing the their target back on the streets. In Hampden County, two cops wove a web of deceit so tangled that two million dollars in cocaine and a gun were thrown out by a judge because the stories the cops told him were so unbelievable.
We should expect that if it happens on the scale that it did here, cops are doctoring reports and tampering with evidence every day, everywhere – and with impunity. Most people are not lucky enough to have their cases thrown out because cops lied.
The Republican story can be found here.
January 20, 2009 – 6:17 pm
One of the most frustrating things that comes out of encounters with the police is a feeling of powerlessness. We can fight against this feeling of impotence by documenting and sharing these interactions in a public forum.
Jennifer writes an An Open Letter To Trooper Pinara on her blog Growing Up in Granby.
January 7, 2009 – 4:14 pm
Want to get involved in Western Mass Copwatch? Come to our training, starting next week in Springfield. The dates are: Monday, January 12th and Tuesday, January 20th at 7:00pm.
How we train
There are three parts to our training. In the first session, we answer questions such as: What is copwatch? Where does this type of activism come from? How do we copwatch, as opposed to other groups? What are our rights as civilians and while we are copwatching?
The second session is more hands-on and focuses on our process during patrols. We practice acting out situations that we might encounter during a patrol. We also learn how to use a video camera, scanner, and discuss our decision-making process.
The final part of training for Copwatch is to ride-along on a patrol. Or, if you aren’t interested in participating in patrols, you complete your training by attending a meeting and getting involved in other aspects of our work.
Get in touch!
If you are interested in Copwatch you are welcome to attend. The training is open to the public, but not to cops.
Send us an email or leave a comment if you would like to train up. If you aren’t able to attend this training, let us know that you are interested and we will let you know about our next trainings, likely taking place in Holyoke in April or May.
January 7, 2009 – 10:30 am
Early on New Year’s Day, the BART cops shot and killed Oscar Grant, a 22 year-old father, at the Fruitvale station in Oakland. The train was stopped and Grant and others pulled off because they were allegedly involved in a brawl. The BART cops restrained him, shot him in the back, and then cuffed him. He died later at the hospital.
Passengers videotaped the BART cops as they restrained Grant and then shot him in the back. The videos clearly show Grant facedown on the platform with cops on top of him, when the officer draws his gun and shoots him. They also clearly show Grant putting his hands up, and putting up a minimal amount of resistance. The cops are going to try to claim that the shooting was a mistake, that the gun “discharged” accidentally instead of being fired into Grant’s back with intent to kill him.
Here is the San Francisco Guardian article about the shooting and here and here are news stories from KTUV featuring the cell phone video’s taken by other folks on the scene.
December 11, 2008 – 3:05 pm
The cops who shot Louis Jiles last summer have been cleared. At a traffic stop, the police mistook a beer bottle in Jiles’ hand for a gun, and shot him in the wrist. Months later, “independent arbitrators” and the Hampden County District Attorney rule that the cops did nothing wrong.
So, what’s the punishment for these cops shooting an unarmed, African-American teen? Not even the customary slap on the wrist. Instead, the officers are lauded as heros. In the words of Commissioner Fitchet, “These officers exemplify the type of courage that our officers display every day and night in the city of Springfield.” Somehow, to Fitchet, the cops are the victims: “They’ve gone through a tremendous amount of stress, not only during the incident but as a result of the review by the D.A. and police department.”
Jiles is still recovering, and his lawyer, Perman Glenn, is considering filing a Civil Rights lawsuit against the city.
Check out CBS 3 Springfield for video footage of Glenn discussing the Jiles case.
November 18, 2008 – 9:28 am
The following is an account of a recent raid of a Revolutionary Autonomous Communities fundraiser for the Anarchist Bookfair held at the Food Not Bombs warehouse in Santa Fe, CA.
Last night the at the Revolutionary Autonomous Communities fundraiser for the Anarchist Bookfair at the food not bombs warehouse on 6th and Santa Fe was raided by the LAPD. They kicked open the door and unlawfully entered in to the private space. Joaquin Cienfuegos a member of RAC and Copwatch LA Guerrilla chapter was targeted by the police and pulled out from the space. When folks inside the space heard what was going on in front they went over to observe and document what was going on. Joaquin asked why he was being detained and they told him to “Shut up” and “Do as he’s told”. He was handcuffed and searched without his permission. While he was being searched Joaquin stated loud and clear that he did not consent to their search and once again asked to please be told why he was being detained. Read More »
November 6, 2008 – 10:00 am
Western Mass Copwatch is teaming up with PLOT2 to host a Know Your Rights Training at the Urban League of Springfield (765 State Street) on Wednesday, November 19th at 4pm.
Download the flyer here: Know Your Rights Workshop - November 19 [PDF - 148KB]