[Peace-discuss] Police databases and the Brian Chesley trial

[Bob Illyes]

The Brian Chesley trial continues at 9:00 Thursday morning in courtroom E. 
If you arrive late, you'll need to wait for breaks, so stick your nose in 
the door and then arrange with the officer who will meet you to be let in 
at the right time.

Officers Andre Davis and Shannon Bridges testified today. Officers Davis 
and Bridges both admitted that it was impossible to exit the park district 
gym, which was open for basketball, without crossing the park. It follows 
that everyone leaving the gym after dark was "trespassing" according to 
Davis's claim regarding Chesley. Perhaps a notice is needed on the gym to 
the effect of "if you play basketball here after dark, the police may 
detain you as you leave, demand identification, and send you to the 
hospital and charge you with crimes that make no sense if you refuse to 
cooperate." Last time I checked, neither the US nor the Illinois 
constitutions allow this sort of police behavior.

More chilling was Officer Davis's statement that he wanted to stop and 
identify Chesley so he could add him to the police database, not because he 
wanted to arrest him. This database, he explained, is used to identify 
people as possible problems if they show up in it again (my paraphrase).

Note that no actual crime is needed to trigger what can only be called a 
fishing expedition. This is very much like the internet and phone databases 
that our friends in DC are illegally collecting on all of us. For all I 
know, it is the same database.

Things got out of hand when Davis called for reinforcements. Bridges did 
not know what Chesley was supposed to have done, only that he was to be 
detained. This was a recipe for overreaction, for the use of excessive force.

Please consider attending this trial if you are free tomorrow. This case is 
a microcosm of the police-state tactics exercised by the Bush 
administration, and it may even be an aspect of them. The officers do not 
appear to have done anything other than carrying out department policy, and 
there is a good chance that Bob and Ruth will be able to bring this policy 
to light during the trial.

Bob Wahlfeldt died during the trial today. He would have been at the trial 
had he been well. Justice isn't naturally occurring- it exists only because 
people demand that it exist. Bob is no longer around to demand justice, as 
he always did. It's up to the rest of us now, folks.

Bob