ACLU of Washington protests police surveillance of UW student group.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is upping the pressure on state law-makers to ban police spying on political and religious organizations following recent disclosures that the University of Washington police department attempted to infiltrate a student.
ACLU confirmed the April 2010 infiltration effort via a public records request after a member of the student group recognized a uniformed officer as being among the people who had earlier attended a Student Workers Coalition meetings. The meetings were called to help organize custodial workers at the UW who have endured lay-offs and changes in hours and wages on account of recent school budget cuts.
The Seattle Times reports in this morning’s edition that UW Police Chief John Vinson and other police officials have already been rebuked by university administrators on account of the incident.
In a letter sent yesterday to the university’s vice president for student life, ACLU of Washington Executive Director Kathleen Taylor expressed her concern about “the chilling effect of political surveillance activities,” and noted that just last month “three police agencies paid $400,000 to settle a civil rights claim related to the surveillance of an Evergreen State College student.
The ACLU says it will also renew its efforts to get the state legislature to pass new law banning such police activities. The organization backed two such measures earlier this year, neither of which passed.
–CFJ
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