Detecting police in a protest

[thriller]

Anyone have good advice on this? I know police infiltrate protests all the time in order to arrest "agitators" before they can start something. Just wondering if anyone knows how to spot cops easily within a protest or group. Thanx

[citizen of industry]

Anyone have good advice on this? I know police infiltrate protests all the time in order to arrest "agitators" before they can start something. Just wondering if anyone knows how to spot cops easily within a protest or group. Thanx

Say the demo starts at 14:00, and you are dealing with a lot of different groups, numbers and space. So you set up different areas to assemble beforehand, around 12:00. Often large demos have to be approved by the police (in a major city), so they already know your route, have calculated the number of cops and busses they need to arrest people if it gets violent, etc.

Then they send plainclothes cops to investigate each assembly area. If you assemble in the square front of a train station for example, they will stand back from the crowd and look like an ordinary person unrelated to the event, someone who just exited the station and is interested in the commotion. But they'll keep a small notepad and take notes. By "ordinary" I mean 30-40 year old male weekend attire.

In Japan, they put a lot of cops next to marchers, to "protect" them from traffic, divide columns with police vehicles and then video them from atop the vehicles, and assign photographers to walkways and bridges to take pictures of the march in progress, just to intimidate people. They analyze the photos later and already have an idea of the leadership if they want to make an arrest in the next demo.

It doesn't really matter if you can "spot them." Numbers matter. The larger the demo the more resources they have to put into it and the less aggressive they become. Proportionately, they arrest a lot during small demos but stand back during big ones because they don't want a riot.

[Nox]

Just don't tell people your intentions unless you know them :)

There isn't really a way to spot them easily, so you have to be careful what you say.

[Smyg]

Once caught the riot police changing into civilian clothes in a backalley close to where a large counter-fascist demo was about to start, in Gothenburg. Had a laugh photographing them. Good times, bad police work.

[Ele'ill]

Anyone have good advice on this? I know police infiltrate protests all the time in order to arrest "agitators" before they can start something. Just wondering if anyone knows how to spot cops easily within a protest or group. Thanx

First and foremost don't attempt to 'find the cops' in regards to infiltrators/snitches etc.. Just don't go down that road. This will create unnecessary paranoia and really cause bigger problems. Even if there are no cops within your group, law enforcement will still get what they desire- your group will self destruct. Only communicate sensitive information to trusted people (your affinity group can operate within a larger group). Think of it this way- it could be the people who you kind of know, it could be those who are 'new to demonstrations' (actual agents posing as activists), it could be those who have been through it before and arrested (activists turned snitches)- As you can see it turns into an absolute mind fuck and immense waste of time trying to 'find the cop'. Use your trusted affinity group.

In regards to street demonstrations- watch out for 'snatch squads' (3-4 cops tasked with hiding behind riot lines (you'll see them freely roaming back there), vans, buildings, who are tasked with ambushing/arresting specific people who are demonstrating.) If you are filming police/filming around police be extremely cautious because they will target you in such a fashion.

You can judge a lot by watching the riot lines and how they're acting. You can see which free roaming police are carrying what type of 'less lethal munitions' (gas cans, rubber bullet assault rifle, etc) when they all put on their gas masks yeah duh etc..

[Q]

Also note that the police often sends in provocateurs. If you're at a normal demo and certain people suddenly start to throw rocks or whatever at the police, those are most likely undercovers trying to give the riot police an excuse to start batting in on the demo.

[Fawkes]

This is going to seem random, but there's a point:

Back in May I was going to a big rave down in Maryland. A kid that I know was hanging around outside his car with his friends before going in (middle of the afternoon). Three kids walked up to him completely decked out in candy bracelets, phat pants, fitteds -- in short, they looked, spoke, and acted like straight up ravers. The three of them asked the kid if he could take a picture of them. He said yeah and they started talking a little bit and the kid happened to mention that he had some ketamine in the car that he was selling. As he lifted up the camera to his eye to take the picture, the three guys tackled him. They were undercovers.

Moral of the story is that Mari3l's right, trying to out undercovers will just result in intense paranoia, create an exclusive environment that will push away potential allies, and be ultimately unproductive. I mean, it's really not that hard to disguise yourself as a seemingly legit protestor.

[Q]

This is going to seem random, but there's a point:

Back in May I was going to a big rave down in Maryland. A kid that I know was hanging around outside his car with his friends before going in (middle of the afternoon). Three kids walked up to him completely decked out in candy bracelets, phat pants, fitteds -- in short, they looked, spoke, and acted like straight up ravers. The three of them asked the kid if he could take a picture of them. He said yeah and they started talking a little bit and the kid happened to mention that he had some ketamine in the car that he was selling. As he lifted up the camera to his eye to take the picture, the three guys tackled him. They were undercovers.

Moral of the story is that Mari3l's right, trying to out undercovers will just result in intense paranoia, create an exclusive environment that will push away potential allies, and be ultimately unproductive. I mean, it's really not that hard to disguise yourself as a seemingly legit protestor.

You also don't sell drugs on demonstrations.

[redtex]

Also note that the police often sends in provocateurs. If you're at a normal demo and certain people suddenly start to throw rocks or whatever at the police, those are most likely undercovers trying to give the riot police an excuse to start batting in on the demo.

At the G20 in Canada last year the provocoteurs dressed up as anarchists but wore the exact same boots as the riot cops.

globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=19928

I can't post links because I don't have enough posts yet (minimum 25 posts to be allowed to post links...) so you'll have to copy and paste it into your browser. It's worth it. They have pics and video and the pigs ended up admitting they had provocoteurs in the crowd.

Maybe you could look at their boots to find the undercovers, lol.

[o well this is ok I guess]

Hey wait a minute, there's already a thread on this.

http://www.revleft.com/vb/spot-and-out-t65558/index.html