Report on the 1st International Copwatch Conference
by Dan Handelman

The conference was mostly for groups who do on-the-street Copwatching, but also included broader strategy questions around police review boards, government repression (such as the arrest of the "San Francisco 8"--former Black Panthers now widely considered to be political prisoners) and police/mental health issues.
 
In addition to the opening night session with Black Panther Eldred "Big Man" Howard, who recounted the patrols the BPP established in the 1960s that led to the modern Copwatch movement in Berkeley and elsewhere, I was able to attend three workshops of 18 offered. The first, on Video Activism, was taught by Josh Wolf, the man who spent more time in jail than any journalist in U.S. history (seven months) for refusing to give over his raw footage of a protest action at which people were arrested. Because of Wolf's experience, the class focused mostly on ethical questions regarding publishing footage you gather while copwatching.
 

The second workshop was planned to be about alternatives to the police. I was encouraged that the first speaker, Andrea Ritchie of Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, recognized that the gains made by the community in having educated the system that domestic violence is a serious crime have been offset by the overzealous way police respond to such incidents. The participants discussed issues of class, gender and race privilege in the police accountability movement--a worthy topic--but never really presented concrete suggestions on building institutions people can call instead of the cops.

The final workshop was a "Your Rights and the Police" training for trainers. I picked up a few ideas which we hope to incorporate into future trainings here in Portland.

A network will be created for the copwatch groups--a movement, not a franchise--to stay in touch and share strategies, tactics, and news.

Thanks to Berekeley Copwatch (BCW) for hosting and Phoenix Copwatch for co-planning the event with BCW.