Emails Reveal Berkeley Police Doxxed Antifascists and Celebrated Retweets

Berkeley Police’s bizzare and highly controversial practice of publishing the names of protesters on social media is once again in the news after Lucy Parsons Labs obtained internal emails that shine light into their decision making. The documents reveal the City’s Public Information Officer working alongside the Chief of Police to create a propaganda campaign favorable to the police. The City also kept track of the number of retweets, likes and other forms of “engagement”.

One email, titled “info flow from Jail to Twitter”, described the protocol for posting mugshots on social media. In the same thread, the Public Information Officer states there may be “legal concerns about the mugshot posting” [emphasis added] before describing how they intend to publish them. The documents further describe Berkeley Police’s policy to only post mugshots of people arrested at protests. Working alongside the City Attorney, they crafted the specific language to post on social media. (Lucy Parsons Labs, September 18, 2018)
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Should police departments publish mugshots on-line? Generally speaking, I believe that the answer to that question should be NO! An arrest is not a conviction, and once a mugshot is published on-line it could be there forever. Even if taken down at a later date, there is noting to prevent these photographs from being copied and reposted while they are on-line.

It is also most definitely not the job of the police to dox, shame, or publicize the actions of others in the community because of their political activities - even when those activities violate the law. Punishment for violation of the law is determined by the courts, not by the police.

 

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