*MEET ON LOCATION AT 10:30 AM*
Join us March 19th from 11 am-1:30 pm at LA Mission College – Main Campus where the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission (HRC) will be hosting a hearing on the LAPD Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) program and Gang Injunctions. The event will be held at the “Campus Center Main” located at 13356 Eldridge Ave., Slymar, CA 91342. The hearing will consist of grassroots community organizations presentations, a panel of experts, and majority of time will be allocated for the community to discuss these very important issues.
Background: In April 2013, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition launched a campaign to have the LA City HRC hold public hearings on the impact of LAPD’s Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) program on our communities. Finally, after almost three years, the HRC has scheduled this community event. This will be one of the first of its kind hearing on the SAR program in LA in which a government agency is questioning what type of impact this program is having on our communities. The Human Relations Commission will be recording the entire program in order to include our thoughts and concerns in a comprehensive report to be presented to other government bodies.
LAPD is incorporating counter-terrorism policies into domestic policing creating an operational and structural apparatus that legitimizes speculative policing. Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and its companion program iWATCH See Something, Say Something program criminalizes our everyday lived experiences making everyone suspect in the eyes of state. The SAR program allows for secret files to be opened on community members who publicly engage in everyday activities including photography, videography, use of binoculars, drawing, note taking, and the asking of hours of operations of a business. This program is a waste of resources, violates our human and civil rights, invades privacy, is not evidence based, and promotes racial profiling. A January 2015 LAPD Office of Inspector General audit revealed that of all the SARs sent to fusion centers, 30% were opened on LA City’s Black community and in the gender count 50% were opened on Black women.
Join us on March 19th at 10:30 am as the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition continues in its goal of exposing the growing surveillance state. It is imperative that we attend and have our voices heard!
Will We Sleep or Will We Fight!
