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Show critic of police operations in Seattle When he was elected mayor in No- vember 1977, Royer promised to propose a police intelligence ordinance When Policemen Become Spies In 1978, a Police Intelligence Drafting Committee was formed Represented were the mayor's office, the police department, the Coalition on Govern ment Spying (a citizens' activist group), the city attorney, the city council, the King County prosecutor, the Of fice of Policy Planning and the Ameri can Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) All parties knew an ordinance was inevitable The mayor and the city council were strongly behind it, and the Coalition on Government Spying received endorsements from a of community groups Hundreds of hours and six drafts later, the 7000-worcommittee had a the ordinance permitting police to in vestigate and collect information that by Robert Spector A in grandmother Seattle, Wash , likes to exercise her right of free speech by writing letters to the editor In June 1977, she wrote to a local newspaper questioning, in the mildest terms, Jimmy Carter's position on the 1 Bomber The day the letter was published, a member of the Seattle police cross-sectio- B-- d intelligence unit clipped it out and slipped it into a file labeled "Profile of doesn't "unreasonably" infringe upon a person's right to privacy and other constitutionally protected civil rights The ordinance controls the collection and use of certain "restricted in formation " This is defined as private " Miscellaneous Indicators As a mushrooming number of nationwide lawsuits and public disclosure acts revealed, local police intelligence units have compiled files on milcitizens They have and been routinely indiscriminately mixed in with files on real criminals Infiltrators and informants have reported false and misleading information lions of law-abidi- the Seattle City Council became the first in the nation to pass a local ordinance setting specific In July 1979, guidelines for gathering intelligence information by a police department The concern of the landmark bill is to protect personal privacy, freedom of dissent and First Amendment rights without handcuffing the police in its exercise of necessary official duties The ordinance went into effect on Jan 1 WashA growing number of cities ington, DC. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Jackson, Miss, among them are considering legislation The issue of local police spying is not units new Many intelligence-gatherinbecritics Red by Squads" (dubbed tarwere Communists cause primary gets) date back 50 years long before War demonstrations the and campus unrest of the '60s Seattle's ordinance illustrates an understanding of and possible solution to the problem Seattle also g showed what can happen if adversaries sit down and talk In 1974, during a city count il con firmation hearing on a new police chief, the nominee (then acting chief) admitted to ordering the destruction of 100 police files on local individuals and organizations the local A year later, PAHADt UBRUARY 10. 1S80 15 press n reported the figure was closer to 750 The names of some of the individuals and organizations were printed None had broken any laws nor were suspected of criminal activities There were, as you might expect, anti-wa- r demonstrators and other political activists But the files included Indians, black construction workers, elected officials and businessmen, too There was also a file on local TV' news commentator Charles Royer, a In Other Cities Other cities are looking closely at the Seattle ordinance and taking action. Memphis: In September 1978, Federal District Court fudge Robert McRae handed down a consent decree on a suit filed by the ACLU. It was a precursor of the Seattle legislation in that the Memphis Police agreed not to engage in political intelligence-gatherin- g in the future, including iniltrating legitimate political organizations. Written authorization is required for information collection. Washington, D.C: Efforts to draft an ordinance here predate Seattle. There has been some support from the city council. A lawsuit disclosed a file on Mayor Marion Barry from his days as a civil rights activist. I os Angeles: A citizens commit tee is pressing the police commis sion to adopt new guidelines mod eled in part on the Seattle ordinance An outright ordinance is impossible under the city charter. Chicago: In the past, police collected dossiers on Rev. Jesse Jackson. Notre Dame University President Father Theodore and others. The ACLU is pushing for a city council bill. Detroit: A judge appointed a special master in Wayne. Michigan's largest county, to examine police files. According to State Rep. Perry Bullard. "In the next several months, we will introduce more sophisticated Seattle-typlegislation." New York City: Dorothy Samuels of the ACLU feels that "the Seattle ordinance has been a spur for thinking about the kind of rules we need in New York City and New York State. Hes-burg- e political, religious and sexual beliefs, preferences, activities and associations It can only be collected if aeon nection to criminal activity is estab lished In that case, an officer must get a written authorization from a depart ment member with the rank of lieu tenant or above An independent auditor is the basic enforcement mechanism Nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the city council, he has access to most police files and must examine them confidentially at least twice a year All police personnel (1 (XX) officers and 400 civilians) are going through a two-datraining session on the meaning, duties and enforcement of the ordinance As a result, Assistant Police Chief Ray Connery expects "considerable administrative headaches the first year or two We can still do our job as police, but it will require 14-ho- more paperwork " There has been negative reaction colfrom some leagues Local police routinely exchange information, but one unidentified city police department now refuses to do business with Seattle One of the side benefits of the Seat tie ordinance is that advocates for all positions had a forum to defend their views As Seattle Police Lt Pat Munter think both sides grew from puts it the experience learned from them, and think they picked up an appreciation of some of the problems of law W enforcement" I I I |