POLICE SPY ON PEACE ACTIVISTS:
LAWYERS FIND OUTRAGEOUS MISCONDUCT
During the course of criminal hearings for protesters arrested at an anti-war demonstration in
December, 1998 (see PPRs #17&18), a police document surfaced showing that police had
sent an undercover officer into the crowd. 
On the document, a "Criminal Intelligence Report," Copwatch activist Dan Handelman is identified
as the big-L "Leader" of the Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group, and as a
"non-criminal" who has "been very active in calling for, arranging, and sponsoring
these demonstrations concerning U.S. involvement with Iraq." (Peace and Justice Works is
also the parent organization of Copwatch). Since none of this activity is criminal in nature, the
inclusion of Handelman's and PJW's names are in apparent violation both of state law and a 1996
judgment against the city for spying on another founding member of Copwatch.
The 1996 decision in Squirrel v. City of Portland stemmed from documents which proved police had sent undercover officers into an early PJW meeting to spy on our efforts to create a stronger police review board (see PPRs #8-10)*. The judgment (coincidentally written by the same Judge Michael Marcus who is hearing the criminal cases from December 1998) goes beyond state law ORS 181.575, which prohibits police from gathering files on individuals or groups not suspected of criminal activity. Marcus' order specifically states that "the mere presence of an individual, group, organization, corporation, business or partnership at an event or activity where criminal behavior is discussed, planned or conducted by others shall not be sufficient basis for including [them] in a document that is subject to the mandates of ORS 181.575."
PJW and Handelman engaged attorney Phil Lebenbaum, who litigated the Squirrel case. Lebenbaum filed a motion in late September asking the City to explain why they should not be found guilty of contempt of court. The City's response in mid-October was to claim that (a) Handelman did not have standing because he is not Squirrel; and (b) that it was reasonable to assume Handelman engaged in criminal behavior since he was the organizer of the event at which criminal conduct occurred.
Naturally, since the law and the Squirrel decision refer to police spying on anyone, not just Squirrel, point (a) is irrelevant. Secondly, since the criminal charges in question range from Disorderly Conduct to Assault on a Police Animal, it is not reasonable to assume any individual present either organized the activity or participated in it. (Plus, the document specifically lists Handelman, whose name is misspelled, as "non-criminal.")
Meanwhile, Lee Berger, attorney for one of the arrested activists, has filed a motion and memorandum to request the public court appearance of the undercover officer and a dismissal of all the remaining criminal cases on the basis of outrageous government misconduct. So far, the City has offered to send the undercover spy into the judge's chambers for private questioning; the negotiations continue at PPR deadline.
In related news, the eleven protesters whose cases were apparently dismissed in August when Judge Marcus ruled a provision of the disorderly conduct statute unconstitutional (see PPR #18) are in legal limbo--the City has decided to appeal Marcus' ruling.
For more information call Peace and Justice Works at (503) 236-3065.
* The decision in the Squirrel case hinged on a Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) file created by undercover informants who attended a Peace and Justice Works (then known as Portland Peaceworks) meeting in 1992 to gather information on PJW's Copwatch program. Police at the time claimed they feared activists, including Copwatch co-founder Douglas Squirrel, were planning to infiltrate the police review board. Marcus became quite angry at the police, ordering the file destroyed; reviews on every file created by CID to occur one week after their creation; full external audits of CID files once every two years; and full internal reviews of CID documents every two years and every five years.