From: Long Beach Cop Watch Command Post c/o REACH Center
Contact: 562-434-6934
684 Redondo Ave
Long Beach CA 90814

ATTENTION NEWS DESK; FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On January 1st the Long Beach CopWatch (a subsidiary of RACUN) opened its third command post in Long Beach at the REACH Center (aka the Revolutionary Empowerment and Community Help Center and Long Beach Infoshoppe) located at 684 Redondo Ave. Coincidently the Long Beach Police contacted the REACH Center's leasing company, Crestwave, on the 2nd and threatened to take legal action against them if the REACH Center was not shut down. Crestwave management were told that police came to a benefit show held at the REACH center on December 28th on a noise complaint and that someone tried to assualt them. An eye witness explained that police officers came to the show in response to a noise complaint, stating the noise needed to be turned down, and then the police left. There was no confrontation. The situation was dealt with peacefully and respectively. The noise was turned down, the last two bands were canceled, and the show ended at approximately 8pm, 2 hours early. Another attendant stated that "If someone tried to assault the police, that person would have definitely been arrested immediately and possibly beaten."

A REACH Center volunteer stated that "the LBPD appear to be disappointed that despite intensified political repression against anarchists in Long Beach, the REACH Center still remains open. There has been a continuous effort by Long Beach Police, FBI and INS to repress political dissent, particularly that of the anarchist movement in Long Beach. Police are now actively trying to shut down the center - the only anarchist community space in Long Beach." The REACH Center is an anarchist space that seeks to provide the community of Long Beach an open community space for meetings, political events, programs such as Food Not Bombs, CopWatch, and books and information otherwise not readily available to the community.

On January 7th there will be a press conference to notify the public of the activation of CopWatch. It will be held outside of the Long Beach courthouse (415 West Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, CA. 90802) at 4:30pm. Preceding the press conference, members of CopWatch are set to deliver a statement during the public response period of the City Council meeting explaining the intentions and goals of CopWatch.

CopWatch believes that participation in holding the police accountable and monitoring of the police are crucial first steps toward building a movement which is capable of stopping police violence and of challenging the increasingly powerful role of police throughout society. They have joined together to fight for the rights of Long Beach residents by taking on the task of directly monitoring police conduct. CopWatch goes out and videotapes the police as they stop people or pull over their vehicles. Additionally, CopWatch provides access and spreads information about the public's rights when confronted by the police.

For more information contact CopWatch at the REACH Center at 562-434-6934.

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While the people at civicusa are statists, they are making some powerful statements about police corruption in Southern California and appear on the surface to be fighting the good fight. At the very least, what they are reporting on is useful for debate about the true nature of law enforcement:

http://www.civicusa.org/

Their citizen power page can give you some good ideas about what you can do about these latest police crimes on you fine people:

http://www.civicusa.org/sbcounty/civic/citizenpower.html

for example:

the LBPD have a consistent record of harrassing activists especially anarchists. This is illegal (harrassment and discrimination). So far the good people at the LB infoshop (now RECUN) have only done outreach and media efforts.

What about accessing the official records on this harrassment? If there is no official record of assaulting a police officer and the testimony of your lessors/landlords, you may have a claim for a harrassment charge against the LBPD and possibly, (hopefully) those other corporate thugs in the FBI as well.

This info gleaned from the official record may be useful in getting to the bottom of all of the other harrassments and open them up to a class action lawsuit. Think about how wonderfully ironic it would be if their crimes only resulted in you getting funding (from the court judgements) to expand your useful and noble operations.

No disrespect but acting only in the defense is often a losing game. I hate the idea of working with the authorities too but maybe you should start thinking about entering this stuff into the official record and taking legal action?

Using legal channels has sometimes succeded in embarrasing the authorities and setting legal precedents that are helpful to activists being tormented by these treasonous plutocrats. The Judi Bari v FBI decision is a tremendous embarrassment to the bureau even if the mainstream media refused to report on it and is useful in setting a precedent that the unholy alliance between the FBI and police is most often a criminal conspiracy to destroy activists.