From behind the locked glass doors of City
Council Chambers, Eugene police officers video taped the Eugene
CopWatch Press Conference announcing their new website.
The police officers behind the locked glass
doors of the City Council Chambers began their videotaping well before
the press conference began, being sure to catch each individual as he
or she arrived.
CopWatch volunteer Tim Lewis and Attorney Lauren Regan spoke of police
misconduct involving a tank, reported the need for increased vigilance
in this time of increasing police powers, and warned of the dangers of
both misinformation and disinformation, spread by law enforcement via
the mainstream media. When asked for specific examples of inaccurate
information, Lewis and Regan cited news stories supplied by police to
the media with inaccurate claims regarding seized drugs and equipment,
claims later proved false.
When asked if the police had been abiding by the unanimous November
City Council Resolution forbidding cooperating with federal agents
breaking constitutional protections with the UPA, one volunteer
recounted a long history of cooperation between the federal agencies
and the EPD, which, he stated, was unlikely to change.
CopWatch announced the opening of their new website, and invited all
who have had, or have witnessed, encounters involving police
misconduct to contact them. Their URL is
http://www.efn.org/~eugpeace/CopWatch.html
Throughout, the EPD continued to videotape, mostly obscured from view
by the tinted glass of the locked City Council Chambers Door, refusing
to come out and answer questions, even when requested to by former
City Councilor Kevin Hornbuckle.
