The cop's cops?

[Cowboy Killer]

Would it be possible to organize people to follow cops around and watch what they do? Like follow them around with hidden cameras to record when the cops beat people up?

[tophat]

That kind of thing happens in the U.K.
A particularly nasty group of cops are called Forward Intelligence Teams. They harass protestors, and in response Fitwatch has been set up, people basically record what the FIT teams do, to try and prevent them doing their worst. It's more a tactic than a distinct group, so anybody can use the tactic and label.

From their website:


FIT Watch can be done by anyone and can be as passive or as confrontational as you wish. Here are some tactics we have found to be effective:

1.Holding large banners in front of photographers. This is particularly effective with double sheets on sticks which can block a camera from a distance. This is the least confrontational way of blocking photography.

2.Taking photos of them. They really don’t like this but it isn’t illegal. With any photos it’s always good to either try and get the cop’s number in the shot, or note it down.

3.Following the FIT. Pick a team and tail them. Turn their tactics onto them – everything time they send a text message look over their shoulder, listen to their phone conversations, look at what they’re writing in their notebooks.

4.Watch out for group huddles, especially with senior officers and go and unobtrusively stand by them. This disrupts their briefings and there’s always the possibility you might learn some useful information.

5. Put yourself physically in the way of the camera men by standing constantly in front of the camera and constantly shadow them. This has been the most confrontational tactic used so far and has therefore been the one people have been arrested for. However it has also been possible to do this without arrest, especially if there are larger numbers doings this.

[Jimmie Higgins]

In the US, the group Copwatch does exactly that.

http://www.copwatchla.org/

[ellipsis]

This should be in practice and propAganda.

[Bitter Ashes]

Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act

Dont get caught taking pictures of the cops.

[bayano]

Well, Hannah, it's legal in the United States. Though we have to keep our eyes and ears open to make sure they don't try to criminalize it somewhere.

Incidentally, I run Copwatch organizing workshops, and one of the keys is not to conceptualize it as 'policing the police,' both for rhetorical reasons as well as for the integrity of the group. Briefly: I found that many people we were recruiting into Copwatch had one self-conceptualization or another. Some saw themselves as social workers, others as non profit-types, etc. Each of these is wrong in its own way. With the idea of the 'Cop's Cops', you create a power dynamic that alienates you from people in your community, makes it hard for you to relate to them and them to relate to you, makes you overconfident, and gives you a superhero complex. This is bad for any radical trying to organize a counter to state power. Of course I talk about it longer in the training, but I think it's pretty crucial.

[Bitter Ashes]

This should be in practice and propAganda.
And now that I can do just that... *waves a magic wand*