Phone Tag Over!

I finally got Sgt. Washington on the phone today. He says we're fine across the street from the Scientology building and that if this guy makes threats again to file a police report. We just need to be very careful to keep moving around and to not block anything. Walking up and down that sidewalk would not be a bad idea, just to be safe. He says he will be working that day and I should call him directly if we have any problems with other police officers telling us to leave. We have each other's names and numbers, so I can get in touch with him easily. There will be an off-duty guy outside the Scientology building, as usual, keeping an eye on things.

Phone Tag

I am now playing phone tag with the police station after leaving my name and number. They had someone named Sergeant Washington call me today, but I had to let it go to voicemail because management frowns upon whipping out the CrackBerry in front of customers. I called him back after my shift but then got his voicemail, so I left a message asking him to call me back later. I'm now waiting on that call, and I'll try him again if it seems he forgot.

More Update

Just spoke to the Commander's clerk at the South Side precinct. I gave her the basics on what happened last time: we were at the edge of the sidewalk near the road, the off-duty officer outside the Scientology store said we were fine, but then when the store owners called the police the officer who responded told us that we were blocking the sidewalk and had to leave.

I gave her my name and number, and she said she'd talk to the Commander about all of this and call me back then.

I didn't get a chance yet to bring up the threats from the shop owner, but when they call back I definitely will.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure when or if we'll need to actually go down there and meet with them. They seem inclined to handle most of this via phone calls. Also, the Commander I'm referring to seems to be on-duty before two in the afternoon, not weeknight evenings like we had been planning to go down there (they keep telling me I should call before two).

I'm hoping if I speak to their highest-up person (which seems to be this Commander I left the information for) then we can at least clarify things enough for the next protest, although if anything's left unresolved I'm going to ask them to schedule a meeting for us.

Additionally, one thing I can think of for June 14th, since this was going to be an issue anyway. Instead of meeting across the street from the Scientology store (even if that's where we end up protesting and we're okay being there), let's meet outside the police station (It's on Sarah Street, which isn't that far from the Scientology bookstore), drop in and let them know who we are and what we're doing, and then walk over to the protest site together (thus avoiding having a few Anons alone out there to be threatened by the store owner). Any thoughts?

Update on Police

Okay, I just spoke to the South Side's desk sergeant. He said our best bet would be to call back tomorrow sometime before two when the Commander or his clerk would be on duty and ask them about this, so I'll try and do that.

Arranging a Meeting

Okay, since this is a holiday weekend for them and a hellish working weekend of departments store sales for me, I don't want to badger the higher-ups just now, but I think on Tuesday (after Memorial Day weekend), I'm going to call them and ask when a good time to speak with someone would be. Now, evenings Monday-Thursday seem to be okay for everyone right now, but if you have any specific blackout dates when you CANNOT come down and you very much would like to be able to, please comment with them here before I make arrangements on Tuesday so that I can try and avoid them.

And if they just give me a general range of times/dates it would be okay to stop by, I'll post back and we'll figure out together when we want to go.

Also, it would be totally cool if anyone can start putting together some basic information to bring to them -- specifically, simple, brief stuff about why we're protesting and evidence refuting any "terrorist" accusations Scientology has made against Anonymous thus far, since I think that's the kind of thing they'd be most interested in seeing. I don't think we're presumed terrorists by the local police, since the off-duty guy last time had no idea we were so evil until he saw their video that morning, but just in case, we should have something prepared. If you find stuff, post links please.

Happy Memorial Day everybody.

Police Meeting?

Okay, reading over the comments from the last post, I'm going to tentatively say a weeknight evening (monday-thursday?) would probably work, sometime in the next couple weeks. Comment with more specific date/time suggestions.

On The Police and Our Legal Right to Protest

A few comments on my last post:

Blogger ManySigns said...

Would it be possible to get some sort of legal notice or documentation of our right to protest there, of which we can give a copy to any store owner who causes us problems? We have the right to be there, and we're not disrupting their business every day of the week, or even once every week. One or two days out of the entire month is not something to get that irate over, especially when there's only a handful of people showing up. We have the right to be there, unless I'm gravely mistaken (and all the police officers who haven't given us trouble are gravely mistaken), and while I don't want to cause problems with the locals, I don't want to be pushed out by some irate asshole who gets upset because his 'special imports' store doesn't do quite as well on the day or two out of each month we protest as it usually does.

I say we consult with local law enforcement, and local legal counsel, if possible, to confirm our rights in the matter, and then if we are in the right, continue to protest in front of the Scientology building, while staying as much out of in front of the problem stores as possible, and simply ignore the store owners if they continue to be threatening and hostile and irate, beyond making further (reasonable) effort to stay out from in front of their stores.

May 13, 2008 4:11 PM
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes. I agree. We do have a legal right to be there. I don't know what to do do appease the store owner but if we get some sort of legal documentation to show the store owner, he can be mad all he wants but there will be nothing he can do about it.

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We definitely need to establish a more solid connection with the South Side police department prior to June 14th, and to get written confirmation of what exactly our legal rights are while protesting. At this point, I think the best way might be to have a couple of us go to the police department in person sometime in the next few weeks and speak with someone there and try to establish some kind of contact person within that precinct who will be willing to work with us.

A few issues to bring up during such a consultation (please comment with more!)

-What, precisely, does "blocking the sidewalk" mean? Does it mean completely barring passersby from using it, or can it also mean taking up about half the width of it for prolonged periods of time, as we do in a standing protest?

-How should we react if, provided a standing protest IS indisputably legal, the import store owner confronts us and threatens us again? Do they advise that we escalate the situation to a 911 call, as the desk sergeant instructed when we called them on 5/10, or is there a better way to resolve the situation? Would it be possible for the police department to contact the store owner in question to warn him about crossing the line when we're there?

-Would it be possible for the officers we speak with to send out an email or memo (we can provide the text, they would only have to facilitate its delivery to other officers) about the protest and what we'll be allowed to do, to prevent misinformed officers from ordering us to leave?

-We may want to offer some information about WHY we protest in the first place, to make our cause a bit more sympathetic and understandable, rather than us just being the weird kids in masks who freak out the neighborhood once a month. The off-duty officer outside the Scientology store last time was very friendly, but he had absolutely no idea why we were protesting Scientology. They had already shown him the Anonymous Exposed video, and he was confused because we didn't seem like such huge bad guys, but he also had no idea why we'd stage a protest, either.

Now, one thing -- talking to the police in person about this and establishing a contact within the department will require going down there without masks, willing to give our names and some basic contact info for them to keep in touch. Is there anyone still in the city who would be willing to do this sometime soon? I may have a bit of trouble scheduling a visit to the station given my new full-time summer work schedule, but I'm willing to try and work it out if anyone would like to accompany me. Xenu has already left town for the summer, as have several of the other Anons I've worked with to organize previous protests.

I don't think we need to be TOO worried at this point -- it all seems like logistical problems to me. They don't think we're hardened criminals -- we're just weird and we picked an inconvenient place to stand, in their eyes. I don't think the black PR has gotten to them much yet. Yes, apparently that one officer told the Anons wearing shirts over their heads and carrying no signs on their way to the protest that they "looked like terrorists," but at this point, I don't think there's a correlation between that and the allegations Scientology has made about Anonymous engaging in terrorist activity -- those guys weren't really associated with us yet, in the officer's mind.

So, let's do some preventative/restorative work on our image with the local law enforcement and see how it turns out. If a standing protest as we have done in the past is considered blocking the sidewalk under the city code, then we'll adapt. Before we write it off though, let's try and talk to the police.