From: mc/G=Brad/S=Hicks/OU=0205925@mhs.attmail.com
Subject: Harrassment
Originator: daemon@eff.org
Organization: EFF mail-news gateway
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 21:56:03 GMT

Subject:                                           Time:          Date:
Harrassment                                        4:26 PM        11/13/92
 
Someone forwarded me the NewsBytes articles; thanks.  They were wonderful;
I just love watching people like that mall manager getting wrapped up in
their own lies.
 
Overall, it looks like everybody handled things wonderfully.  But I was on
a committee that researched strategies for dealing with police harrassment
(both from legal and historical grounds, with an emphasis on practical
descriptions not theory).  We wrote it up as a pamphlet that's available
to anyone (though it's probably inapplicable outside the US); send a SASE
to the Alliance for Magical and Earth Religions, P.O. Box 16551, Clayton,
MO 63105 and ask for the police harrassment pamphlet.  (There have been
unprovoked sweeps for "devil worshippers" that were even more violent than
the sweeps for "hackers."  =Believe me=.  Oh, a few quarters for printing
costs would be appreciated; we =don't= have anything like the EFF's
financial resources.)
 
But three quick pieces of advice, should this happen to you:
 
1) I know in all the movies, and in old, old advice, they tell you to get
the badge number et al of the officers.  They have so many ways to thwart
this that it isn't worth trying.  Even where they have to tell you, they
don't have to give you time to write it down.  Can you speed read under
those conditions?  Arbitrary digit strings?  How good is your memory?
They're required to list all of that in the report; wait two days (or
until you're out) and request a copy.  If necessary, have a lawyer ask for
a copy.
 
2) I'm afraid they're right about the legal status of malls.  If they tell
you to go away, go away, or you'll get in bigger trouble.  This is
=especially= true for hackers; if we were talking about a group protected
by the Civil Rights Acts, then maybe you'd have a leg to stand on.  But
probably not.  If they try to take your property away, see the next
section.  (We didn't think to discuss this in the AMER packet; Wiccans/etc
seldom meet en masse in shopping malls.  We have better sense than that.)
 
3) If you have any reason to believe that you are being intentionally
harrassed, or are the subject of an investigation, or they make any
attempt to detain you if/when you attempt to leave, keep repeating the
magic words, "Am I under arrest?" as often as necessary until you are
given a yes or no answer.  At any time until they answer "Yes" you may
walk away with all of your property, and you don't have to tell them or
show them anything.  If they do answer "Yes", ask "For what?"  (Be smart:
do this calmly, meekly, with your open hands in plain sight, and standing
where and how the officer tells you to.  Don't scare them or piss them
off, or they'll Rodney King you.)  Then wait for them to Mirandize you and
demand to see your own lawyer or a public defender.  At that point they
can search you all they like, and take whatever they want ... but in a
street arrest, they have to inventory it pretty quick and get you to sign
that it's complete.  If it's not, don't sign.  (If they have a search
warrant, they'll take everything on the list.  You may or may not get an
inventory any time soon.  If you have a search warrant served on you, you
need a lawyer.  Period.)
 
If what they're doing is harrassing you, hoping that you'll get scared,
knock it off, break it up, and move along, they will NOT want to arrest
you without cause; they'd be opening their department up to false arrest
and harrassment lawsuits and getting themselves in a big heap of trouble.
And if they do arrest you, you're better off not having cooperated,
believe me.  "Anything you say can and will be used against you" ... no
matter how far they have to twist it when they're repeating it to the
jury.
 
(Amendment to all of the above: If they have weapons draw and/or are
threatening to hurt or kill you, do whatever they say.  Really.  Anything.
 Yes, you have rights, but at that point you're dealing with armed and
dangerous men wearing uniforms and badges.  You won't do yourself or
anyone else any good if you don't live to make a complaint.  If they hurt
you =at all=, as soon as you can, get to a hospital emergency room;
they're used to preserving evidence in assault cases.)
 
Trying to photograph the officers was an good idea ... of course, had they
arrested them, they could simply have opened the camera, ruined the film,
and then it would have been their word against the cops as to who did it.
Against plain harrassment it could have been very, very effective.  How
did they get the camera away?  Did s/he hand it to them when asked?  (If
so, "Dummy!")  Was it taken by force?  (If so, complain to Internal
Affairs; taking property without at least an arrest is unlawful.)
 
Bruce Sterling said something about this in {The Hacker Crackdown} that I
thought was awfully damned insightful.  Cops use tactics like this all the
time on gangs, punk kids, suspected drug dealers, skateboarders ... they
know the citizens don't like to see people like that congregate in public
(let alone in private), and they know that even though it's illegal
("Congress shall make no loaw ... abridging ... the right of the people
peaceably to assemble ..."), they usually don't have any problems, because
most people are easily intimidated and the rest have no desire to end up
in court, because they actually were doing something illegal they don't
want to answer questions about.  They are NOT used to trying this on white
law-abiding college students or college-educated professionals, with money
for lawyers if necessary, and a thorough understanding of their rights.
 
 -------------
 J. Brad Hicks
 Internet: mhs!mc!Brad_Hicks@attmail.com
 X.400:    c=US admd=ATTMAIL prmd=MasterCard sn=Hicks gn=Brad
 
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice.  If you need legal
advice, ask a lawyer.  (Mike Godwin, maybe.)  I am a board member of AMER,
but not it's public spokesman.  This not an official statement from AMER.
I am not an official MasterCard spokesperson, and the message above does
not contain official MasterCard statements or policies.
 
 
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