The 2013 Police Accountability Tour wrapped last Monday as Pete Eyre and myself parted ways at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. Carrying footage that has mostly completed uploading recently, Fr33manTVraw has seen a spike in recent views as what’s been captured on the tour is sorted for further editing. Much content will be submitted to CheshireTV for airing, and be additionally posted to the FreeConcordTV channel. One video from the tour has previously appeared on the AquaKeene channel, and check for more there from the tour as content airs on the controversial series AKPF #1 out of Cheshire county.
Embedded below is a playlist of my experiences with the TSA. First, going through the security checkpoint with two cameras running in NOLA, then wrapping with a brief exercise in filming the TSA from the public area of the airport after landing in Manchester. You can read an article from Pete covering the tour published to CopBlock last Friday. In my roughly five city addition to the tour, it was eye-opening to see how those portions of the world are changing and and how sheltered other areas can be from their issues. Expect text in addition to video content coming soon to the sources above. Keep cameras charged!
The Civil Disobedience panel at Keenevention 2013 was presented by the star of “Victimless Crime Spree” and the host of Peace News Now, Derrick J Freeman. The panel’s focus was perhaps the most controversial form of activism – civil disobedience and noncooperation. Keenevention is certainly not the first time a civil disobedience panel has been presented at a liberty gathering, but it is the first time in many years that Russell Kanning, one of the original movers to Keene, returns to the stage! Russell was instrumental in making Keene the destination for future waves of activists who would emulate his peaceful disobedience. Russell was joined by another original Free State Project mover and liberty civil disobedience pioneer, Lauren Canario as well as yours truly, Ian Freeman.
The Police Accountability Tour had the opportunity to meet with the creative individuals behind CopWatch of East Atlanta. Having been active in their area since the late aughts, the project established itself as a resource for the community, providing a phone number for people in need of a few individuals armed with cameras to reach out through. Following an experience-based set of collectively understood policies, CopWatch participants are also involved in other actions in the area, including Food Not Bombs.
A pixelated still image from footage damaged in police custody
Stemming from an incident in 2010, and complimented by a similar situation which occurred later, the Atlanta police department has now been specifically trained to permit videography and photography of themselves and their suspects and detainees from a reasonable distance. During the 2010 camera seizure, which helped shape CopWatch of East Atlanta’s policies as well as the police’s, a camera phone was taken from an activist by the police after multiple unlawful requests to terminate the recording. Eventually, the camera was wrestled away, and a revealing phone conversation with the property-seizing officer was documented and disseminated. The officer revealed that the person potentially videotaped being arrested may act as a confidential informant on an investigation. The camera phone would be returned on the condition that the police employee could be granted access to the footage and ensure its deletion. An audio recording of the telephone conversation would secure a $40,000 settlement for the group. Upon retrieving the footage, it was posted publicly in very damaged condition, possibly as a result of its poor handling in police custody, or through intentional sabotage. Since that time, CopWatch of East Atlanta has adopted policies to prevent the loss of objective documentation of a scene by working in groups, wearing uniforms, keeping distances between videographers, and observing numerous other safety precautions. Recently at the DeKalb County public library, the group offered to the public a know-your-rights training session. (more…)
While Pete Eyre and I continue the 2013 Police Accountability Tour, updates from the changes at the Weare police department stream out of NH. The Concord Monitor has the story on WPD’s new police chief imported from New Haven, Connecticut, which was the subject of its own FBI raid in 2007. The Monitor story discusses some of the negative attention drawn to Weare police under the reign of previous administrations, wherein civilians were legally attacked and threatened with felonies for recording police. Multiple individuals have their own lawsuits against the department for the infringement on their right to document public officials.
Linked below is an update from myself and Pete produced shortly after touching down in Chicago, where our stay promises further adventures in accountability.
Garret Ean will soon join the nine-city, four-month Police Accountability Tour that aims to get folks on the ground better-connected, to share and facilitate the exchange of ideas and practices related to police accountability, and to ultimately erode the plague of police statism.
Garret is stepping-in for Jacob Crawford, who co-founded the tour with me a few months back based on discussions we had during the spring and while at PorcFest in June.
Jacob, a longtime Bay-area copwatcher who started WeCopwtach.org and who a decade ago made These Streets Are Watching, the first know your rights video using on the street (not dramatized) footage, needs to focus his attention on some police accountability efforts specific to the Bay. (more…)
Airing on this week’s AKPF #1 timeslot is an unprecedented revamp of Dolus, a prior episode. The infamous CoK official DPRK video of the ‘doctored’ Robin Hooding is replaced with courtroom footage to put you in the action with cast and dedicated fans of the Aqua Keene Parking Force. Additionally, fans receive more content from amateur videographer Peter ‘Sturdy’ Thomas, who did not appear in the court proceedings. See for yourself why AKPF is #1 in the Robin Hood:
The 2013 Police Accountability Tour wrapped last Monday as Pete Eyre and myself parted ways at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. Carrying footage that has mostly completed uploading recently, Fr33manTVraw has seen a spike in recent views as what’s been captured on the tour is sorted for further editing. Much content will be submitted to CheshireTV for airing, and be additionally posted to the FreeConcordTV channel. One video from the tour has previously appeared on the AquaKeene channel, and check for more there from the tour as content airs on the controversial series AKPF #1 out of Cheshire county.
Garret Ean will soon join the nine-city, four-month 
