Philly Cop Watch Organizing

[nattyreb]

Hello,

Philadelphia has a well deserved reputation for police violence and
brutality. Unfortuately, things are only getting worse. As cilvilian and
community oversight has suffered cutbacks, and old court-ordered programs
have disintegrated, police brutality has spiked. The Philly PD has killed
at least 15 people this year, far more than in recent years. According to
the Philadelphia City Paper, "[t]hat number is more than double the seven
fatal police shootings that occurred during all of 2005, and the highest
figure since at least 1994." It seems that the police believe that no one is
paying attention to the crimes that they commit, which makes it all the more
important for people to step forward and prove them wrong.

This is an invitation for all of those interested in organizing a Cop Watch
in Philadelphia. There are Cop Watch chapters in other cities across the
country also suffering from police repression and violence. Cop Watch is a
grassroots organization focused on documenting police abuses as they happen,
preventing future abuses, and making sure that people know and can use their
rights when dealing with police. The main goals of Cop Watch are to monitor
police behavior, reduce police brutality and abuse, demand more police
accountability and ensure that people (especially those normally targeted by
police) know and exercise their rights.

Hopefully this project will enable people with many different concerns,
interests and skills to join together in the struggle to create a safer,
more empowered and democratic community.

Please come to share ideas, meet other people who are concerned and start
getting ready to organize an active response to police misconduct in our
city.

DATE / TIME: Saturday, July 29, 2006 at 6 PM

LOCATION: 1217 Spring Garden St, Apartment 205

If you can't make it to the meeting but are still interested, or if you've
got questions, please let us know! You can contact us at either
kasher@temple.edu or bethos221@hotmail.com.