For Immediate Release Sept. 18, 2008
Contacts: LWACopwatch@gmail.com, website: www.lwacopwatch.blogspot.com
VIDEO LINKS OF RECENT PBC SHERIFF TRAINING IN PUBLIC FOR SUPPRESSING PROTESTS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkV8E3vsCwo&feature=PlayList&p=5EB57E0BC41FDD14&index=0
Palm Beach County- The Lake Worth Area Copwatch group (LWAC) will accompany environmental protesters who have declared a return to the site of controversial FPL power plant construction in Loxahatchee to protest on September 20. In February of this year, Palm Beach County Sheriff arrested 26 people attempting to halt construction of the plant. The protests cited concerns over dangerous and illegal operations occurring on site. LWAC is concerned about intimidation and abuse by police officers, which they say may amount to violations of constitutional rights and suppression of community participation in such serious issues.
According to recent Palm Beach Post article, Bradshaw said deputies will be present "to provide them [protesters] with a safe environment to do their protest and their march," Bradshaw said. "Safely do what you're going to do, and don't disrupt the public's right to use the roadway." In February, Sheriff Bradshaw made statements discrediting the abuses alleged by protesters prior to any investigation of the matter. Several trials in the case are still pending. Protest organizers say they are reluctant to trust Bradshaw.
Activists with LWAC, several of whom were part of the February protest, say they observed an excessive presence of Sheriff officers that caused traffic to be delayed along Southern (which was blamed on the protest obstructing the entrance road to Palm Beach Aggregates and FPL construction). The police displayed K-9 dogs and crowd control weapons to intimidate demonstrators. Allegations of mistreatment followed the arrests.
In August, following a trial of arrested FPL protesters; the Sheriff was observed and videotaped by LWAC in front of the County Courthouse training in riot gear to suppress protests in a similar fashion as they did on February 18. Several of the witnesses who videotaped this training also experienced the Sheriff's intimidation and abuses in February. One witness says he felt that the training seemed as though it was intended to be seen by the activists on trial that day: "It was another attempt to intimidate people from standing up for the environment; a blatant waste of taxpayers money to further threaten us."
"It is as if they have more allegiance to companies like Florida Power and Light than to those of us standing up for the public interest" said the witness, preferring to remain anonymous.
See link of Courthouse training videos from August 12, 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkV8E3vsCwo&feature=PlayList&p=5EB57E0BC41FDD14&index=0
LWAC's mission is to monitor police activity, on both a street and a policy level, with a focus on: police brutality and killings; racial and political profiling; suppression of constitutional rights; and violation of grassroots community activists.
Along with the Sheriff misconduct against FPL protesters, LWAC is also following several other recent cases, including: the fatal Sheriff shooting of 16-year-old Ruben Debrosse of Royal Palm Beach; the Riviera Beach Police profiling and assault of another 16-year-old, Laquan Wright, who was admittedly "the wrong person"; and the West Palm Beach beating of Pablo Gilberto Valenzuela who was handcuffed at the time of assault by several officers.
The group was initially formed to take a critical stance on the sheriff merger with the City of Lake Worth, citing on the loss of local control over law enforcement resulting in less accountability over cost and style of policing. Read the full statement: http://lwacopwatch.blogspot.com/2008/09/loss-of-local-control-and.html
LWAC participants were also in Minnesota earlier this month documenting police violence against protesters. See link of RNC protest footage taken by LWAC:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8394933305073123261
For more info on Copwatch efforts around the US:
http://www.copwatch.org/, http://www.copwatchla.org/, http://www.berkeleycopwatch.org/
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