During the course of the Republican National Convention, September 1-September 4, many media sources have reported that police recorded and collected over 6,000 hours of video in downtown Saint Paul from both the network of CCTV security cameras and handheld police video cameras. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota filed Data Practice requests for this footage on August 22nd and November 13th. The ACLU is just one organization that has filed such requests. Minneapolis-based Communities United Against Police Brutality filed a data request as early as September 13th. According to the ACLU, the City of St. Paul has stated that they might not release the tapes for another 2-3 years.
Before the Convention, the public was assured that St. Paul's CCTV footage would not only be available to them, but would even be available "live on the Internet" during the Convention. See the KSTP report, "RNC surveillance cameras can be viewed from home" (August 11th, 2008). This did not happen.
St. Paul City Attorney John Choi was reported (St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 14th) as saying that "all the video would be disclosed to defense attorneys as required by the rules of criminal procedure and court orders." The same article also reports Choi as saying that, "The reality is that someone needs to review the video prior to releasing it, and that is a monumental task requiring lots of staff time."
There is nothing in the statutes that says that the RNC security camera footage requires police review. The police do not get to sit on the tapes for years until all the RNC trials are concluded. Yet this is exactly what is happening.
As of today, no video tape has been released to defense lawyers. Yet the cases against RNC arrestees continue. As Choi is personally involved in prosecuting RNC cases, his dual role--in withholding critical evidence from defendants whom he is simultaneously building cases against--is a sleazy corruption of the justice system.
What is the city's plan? That none of the approximately 700 people whom the City of St. Paul saw fit to arrest will have access to City video evidence to refute any false police claims against them? If the City does not release the video, it boils down to the police officers' words against defendants' words, and as we saw in a most spectacular fashion during RNC week, the police cannot be trusted not to abuse unchecked power.
You may remember that during the 2004 RNC in New York City, 400 people arrested had their cases dismissed due to video footage collected from a single organization-- i-Witness Video. This would be the same organization whose residence/office was raided by City of St. Paul police at 951 Iglehart on August 30th for "weapons" that did not exist, and at 1595 Selby on September 3rd for "hostages" that did not exist. This is blatant police harassment and hard-to-hide intimidation of proven and effective witnesses against police misconduct.
Should it have become clear, from the widespread targeting of journalists and videographers even before the Convention started, throughout the Convention, and even after the Convention, that the City has no meaningful respect for true freedom of information? If the City is not going to allow people to defend themselves with public records that they legally should already have access to, then the City cannot legitimately charge people with any crime, because it would have subverted one of the very fundamentals of law -- the ability of a defendant to mount their defense.
Mayor Coleman, you were one of the public officials responsible for the security overkill on the streets of St. Paul. It therefore imperative that you personally ensure that the the tapes are released immediately, so those who were unfairly sacrificed on the alter of public security, can get the justice they deserve from the evidence you and your colleagues can be now very fairly said to be "suppressing".
According to Minnesota statute, the public has the right to access to state and local government records. It is our right, not a favor we ask of the City.
I urge you to act immediately for release of these tapes.
Nigel Parry
RNC '08 Report
http://rnc08report.org
More from RNC 08 Report | Top of Page
Useful article? Use these tools to let someone know:
Send & Share | Print | Access RSS Feed for Syndication
