Cop-Proof Citizen Review Board, Part 2

Police want to twist all civilian action into crime to “require” an arrest. You have to understand cop-think to get the rationale. It goes like this:

• Cops don’t like or trust anybody who isn’t a cop. Cop good, citizen bad.
• Cops want to arrest anybody who is not a cop. Hey, arresting people is their job. They are “selling” their product.
• They lie in court to make whatever the citizen was doing look punishable, chalking up another “win”.

It all comes from Academy training, and it all creates the Cop Culture. The Academy starts with a cheat-leaning mind, and grows it into something that will never understand anything else. But, I digress. Cop-Proof CRB, Part 2-----

Keeping It Free
Constitutionally, we can assemble and speak, so anger-fueled, deck-stacking cops will goad us into something they can interpret into an arrest-worthy activity. (Remember pretext stops?) That’s why we need the use of a no cost, license-free building to assemble, (last post). But with that, we need to develop a plan. The Constitution that gave us assembly also covers the right to the Press, and we need to start using it.

The use of the press can be free. While advertising in the media could cost a bundle, it doesn’t have to, and a newspaper can donate ads to a cause, especially a public service cause, at no cost to the advertiser. Let’s discuss that.

Most cities and towns, especially smaller ones, have newspapers that are distributed to local residents for free, via post office mail. Every mailbox on every street gets one. Most of these are weekly distributions. There are 40 such papers in my state alone. While they thrive on paid advertising, not subscription revenue, they are still open to public service announcements without charge. This is where the CRB comes in. Keep in mind, the goal is to do it for free.

If you have one or more of these papers in your city, look through them with an eye to ads for the newspaper itself. These are fillers to complete a page layout, and do not produce any income for the paper. That space can be substituted with a PSA for your local CRB without charge. It is a win for your advertising needs and a no-cost addition to the paper’s content. Run the ad as often as the paper will allow, especially when voting day draws near.

Compose An Ad
Devise a print ad that will advocate the need and eventual formation of a CRB. Do this by encouraging all citizens to contact incoming candidates in the next election and make it known that a CRB is an imperative for them to get votes. Include all contact info for local candidates running for office on all sides of the political spectrum in that election cycle, including Dem, GOP and independents. Spell it out in phrasing that will click with the folks in your voting district that if Candidate wants to get elected, Candidate needs to support a CRB.

Compose A Flyer
Accompany all of this with a flyer of your own making. Most of us with a computer also have a printer, and we all have a copy shop in our downtown main street. Compose and print a flyer with the same basic elements as the newspaper ad, print some copies and ask a local printing business to donate some copies. Even a dozen or two will serve the overall purpose. Remember, there are other copy shops in town and with a donation from each, we’ll have plenty to pass around. Keep in mind and be ready to stress, cops without restraint will hurt both business and private sectors, so we all will benefit from the assistance from the copy shop, the meeting room, and of course, the citizen review board.

Once those flyers are made, give them to friends who participate in craft shows, flea markets, have storefront businesses, or any other access to the random public for which a license is not needed, to distribute the information. Meanwhile, don’t forget your own email service. Don’t spam, just collect friends. Got a personal website? Even better. Publish it.

Know Our Own Authority
We need to understand that without independent and free dissemination of facts coupled with strong pressure on all incoming and outgoing political candidates, the citizen is doomed to repeating the same losing business model it has been using since the 1950’s. Counting on the thoughts of the legislature/mayor is almost as useless as counting on the police department to police itself. Those folks only do what is demanded of them.

Are you familiar with the 2006 Copley Press decision in California? This was a huge setback for CRB’s, and citizens there are still trying to get this decision overturned.

San Francisco CA Supreme Court Copley Press decision on SB-1019
Copley Press

It basically says the citizen’s right to know what if any disciplinary action was taken with an offending cop is none of their business. The old cop chirp is always applied: “Officer safety…officer safety…officer safety”. They claim bad cop activity can bring on retaliation and retribution from citizens. Like so many other false complaints from police departments, a CRB would solve this. The retribution a cop fears comes from the cop treating a citizen unfairly, maybe illegally. The citizen review panel would assuage the citizen’s concerns by mitigating or eliminating the behavior in question, making us all, cop and citizen, much safer and happier with the PD.

What part of that do cops not get?