Mike Bloomberg NYPD Handschu Agreement

Are NYPD Intelligence Division violating terms of the Handschu Agreement ?

On September 6, 2012, activists against the Fracking Pipeline that is proposed to run through the West Village organised a demonstration along the West Side Highway. At that protest, a white shirt police officer was caught video taping lawful political activities of the protesters. If the protesters were only engaged in lawful political activities on September 6, as it surely does appear, then does the monitoring of the protesters by the NYPD not violate the Handschu Agreement ?

The Handschu agreement is a court ruling from the case Handschu v. Special Services Division, 605 F.Supp. 1384, affirmed 787 F.2d 828, that brought about guidelines that regulate police behavior in New York City with regard to police monitoring of citizens' political activity (Wikipedia).

A large coalition of activist groups accused police of compiling information to punish and repress lawful dissent, according to Wikipedia.

For the last year, the NYPD and the Bloomberg administration have been monitoring the Occupy Wall Street movement since before activists began their occupation in Liberty Square. In 2011, NYPD used camcorders to videotape protesters during a march against the execution of Troy Davis. On one occasion, in 2012, Occupy activists caught the NYPD engaged in monitoring the lawful political activities by #OWS.

Because New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg gives direct orders to NYPD, what kind of approval has he made about any illegal monitoring acts by the New York Police Department ? Does this video appear to show that NYPD Intelligence Division assault reporters, block news cameras, and attack the Freedom of the Press to benefit Mayor Bloomberg ?

NYPD Spies On #OWS Protesters

Not only are NYPD now engaged in stop and frisk against Black and Hispanic men and monitoring Muslims and Muslim-Americans, but now they are spying on #OccupyWallStreet protesters.

From The New York Times :

Occupy Wall Street Protesters Complain of Police Surveillance

... Though Occupy Wall Street has largely faded from the headlines, organizers are planning springtime demonstrations in an effort to revitalize their movement. And they are troubled by what they consider continued monitoring by the police.

In 2003, citing the dangers of terrorism, a federal judge granted expanded surveillance powers to the New York police, who had previously faced restrictions in monitoring political groups. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and others have said the new latitude is essential to keeping the city safe.

But the Police Department’s surveillance efforts have recently gained attention and criticism with reports that officers compiled detailed data on Muslim communities. Now, some Occupy protesters worry that they are being subjected to similar scrutiny.

For the last few months, protest organizers say, police officers or detectives have been posted outside buildings where private meetings were taking place, have visited the homes of organizers and have questioned protesters arrested on minor charges. ...

Undercover officers are generally entitled to attend public political gatherings. Protesters said apparent efforts to keep tabs on them had included officers’ showing up at private meetings and what some described as attempts at intimidation. ...

No word from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn about the ongoing domestic spying, racial profiling, religious profiling, and the monitoring of political activities by the NYPD.

Kelly Defends NYPD Spying

Following criticisms that the NYPD are violating the civil rights and civil liberties of Muslims and Muslim-Americans, NYPD Commish Ray Kelly defended the questionable secret practices of racial- and religious-profiling, as well as unwarranted domestic surveillance.

From The New York Daily News :

Kelly defends spying as essential safety strategy

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly gave an impassioned defense of the NYPD’s controversial Muslim surveillance program Saturday — declaring it essential for the city’s safety.

The tactics, which allegedly include spying on mosques, cafes and shops, have come under fire from Muslim and civil rights groups, but Kelly said the Police Department’s strategy has been “misrepresented.”

“For some, the very act of intelligence gathering seems illegitimate when applied to the crime of terrorism,” Kelly said in his most wide-ranging remarks to date on the hot-button topic.

Meanwhile, no response from New York City Council Speaker Quinn on the subject of NYPD domestic spying on minorities.

Bloomberg's Pattern of NYPD Monitoring of Political Protests

Live Mass Arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge #occupywallstreet - Streaming Video by We are Change

In a flashback to the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, >police rounded up and arrested over 700 activists on the Brooklyn Bridge during a political demonstration.

Police said that those activists, who impeded vehicular traffic on the bridge were were arrested. But The New York Times reported that "many protesters said they believed the police had tricked them, allowing them onto the bridge, and even escorting them partway across, only to trap them in orange netting after hundreds had entered." Look at this independent video :

Some of the activists, who were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, had their hands bound with plastic ties that the NYPD has used at other mass demonstration. Separately, the NYPD admitted that they police force had taken their own videos of the protesters, who had taken part in the demonstration, deliberately and intentionally tracking and monitoring the peaceful activists.

Attorney Wylie Stecklow, whose law firm represents many of the activists, who were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, said that the pattern of the NYPD's behaviour toward the Occupy Wall Street protesters was reminiscent of the mass arrests that police made during the 2004 Republican National Convention.

Misogynistic Mayor may cost Quinn her Leadership

The mayor doesn't like discussing the subject of the class action sexual harassment case against him and his company.

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's power base is now in question -- following her close association with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his controversial push for third term extensions.

Bloomberg tricked Quinn into doing his dirty work on extending term limits, and then left her out to fend herself against voter anger. More evidence of his bias against women.

From the New York Times : Answers About Michael R. Bloomberg, Part 2 :

Q. Are the sexual harassment issues that are being brought against Bloomberg L.P. recent, or were they prior to his terms as mayor? If they are later than 2002 hasn’t he divested himself from any active role in the company and should it not be a relevant issue? If events occurred during his company stewardship, that is a different matter and should be brought to bear in the current campaign. Would you comment on this subject? — Posted by Ned Brody

A. A complicated subject. Mr. Bloomberg and his company faced three sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits when he was still in charge of Bloomberg L.P. One suit, by a woman who charged Mr. Bloomberg with snapping “Kill it!” when she told him she was pregnant, claimed that he and other company executives subjected women to “repeated and unwelcome” sexual comments and overtures. That suit was settled the year before Mr. Bloomberg became a mayoral candidate. He did not admit guilt, and the plaintiff accepted an undisclosed sum and agreed to remain forever silent. A second harassment suit was dropped because of legal blunders by the woman’s lawyer, and a third was withdrawn after the plaintiff’s husband, another Bloomberg employee, pleaded guilty to stealing from the company.

Remember Term Limits NYC 2009

We need a new Mayor in NYC, a new Councilman in Queens, and a whole new State Senate in Albany

Bloomberg continues to 'track' Thompson's every move

The Daily News reports that Mayor Bloomberg is following his rival, City Comptroller William Thompson, in mayoral race.

In his power-mad campaign to win a previously-prohibited third term, Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign staff are tailing Bill Thompson at his election rallies.

The pressure of being followed and taped by Mayor Bloomberg's re-election staff is weighing down on Mr. Thompson. For example, Mr. Thompson is being baited by hecklers or activists into having to respond to criticisms of Mayor Bloomberg and his deputy mayor, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Having to respond to the deep resentment and disappointment that voters feel towards Mayor Bloomberg is becoming a challenge, because Mayor Bloomberg's re-election campaign staff is using Mr. Thompson's response (or non-response) as fodder for campaign attacks.

At a campaign event last week, [Mr. Thompson] said nothing as a cafe owner called City Council Speaker Christine Quinn a whore, instead of calling him out.

A month ago, he seemed helpless when a disheveled man started screaming obscenities about Bloomberg in the background of a Chinatown press conference.

"We're on camera?" Thompson asked. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Thompson now knows that Bloomberg's team is tracking him at every public event.

Let's hope that somebody is following and taping Mayor Bloomberg, to see how Mayor Bloomberg likes it.

Read more at: Controller needs to figure out which William Thompson is running for Mayor

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Bloomberg's Campaign peddles tapes to The New York Post

Mayor Bloomberg has a history of spying on protest groups during the 2004 Republican National Convention. Now, his third term re-election staff have started spying on Bill Thompson's campaign events.

Remember when, back in 2004, Mayor Michael Bloomberg admitted that he had ordered the NYPD to collect surveillance on groups protesting the Republican National Convention ?

Well, now comes the blogger Roy Edroso of The Village Voice, and he has reported that Mayor Bloomberg's campaign operatives are shopping around secretly-recorded audio tapes to humiliate NYC Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. It is known that at least one media outlet, The New York Post, has been taken this bait.

"The Post says his operatives sent them a tape of Bill Thompson not reacting when the co-owner of the delightful West Village Brit boite Tea and Sympathy called Christine Quinn a "whore." "

The prefabricated outrage that is being intentionally generated by this scandal is ludicrous. Restauranteur Sean Kavanagh-Dowsett's only wrong-doing was that he had no thesaurus within easy reach; his poor choice of an adjective to describe a sell-out is understandable. When I can't think of a word to describe my disappointment in someone, I usually do turn to profanity as a literary clutch.

Meanwhile, it seems Nixon-esque for Mayor Bloomberg's political campaign to go around audio-taping his rival's campaign events. Should that be cause for more concern than the wrong use of the word, "whore?"