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Cop Block
FormationJanuary 1, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-01-01)
TypeDecentralized project
PurposePromote law enforcement accountability and abolishment, expose alleged police misconduct
Key people
Pete Eyre, Ademo Freeman, Severin Freeman, Matthew Taylor.
Websitewww.copblock.org

Cop Block is a decentralized anti-police project. The organization's members and volunteers attempt to draw attention to alleged or evident police abuses that happen across the United States, and work to film police to force transparency and accountability within their ranks.

Activities

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In July 2010, anarchists and libertarians Pete Eyre and Adam "Ademo Freeman" Mueller, key members of the organization were arrested for videotaping officials at the Franklin County, Massachusetts jail.[1] The organization is known for videotaping public officials nationally, with many of the interactions ending in arrest based on an allegation that the activities violate local laws, regulations, policies or rules civil disobedience.[2]

In October 2011, Cop Block sponsored a "National Chalk the Police Day" in fifteen cities to protest arrests of protesters who had used chalk to write anti-police slogans on the sidewalks of public property. The event passed largely unnoticed.[3]

In 2011, Cop Block posted a video to their website, alleging that a Manchester, New Hampshire police officer had used excessive force on a student at West High school. According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, the student showed no visible signs of injury either in his mugshot or later interviews.[4] Cop Block founder Ademo Freeman interviewed the officer involved as well as the school principal and was subsequently arrested for illegal wiretapping, convicted and sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation[5] out of a potential 21 years in prison.[6][7][8] His conviction was overturned on appeal on 1st Amendment grounds.[9]

Controversies

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In July 2011, Kershaw County, South Carolina Republican Party co-chair Jeff Mattox became embroiled in a controversy after he 'liked' a Cop Block video cross-posted on a Tea Party website.[10] The controversy was reported on nationally at Politico.com.[11] Mattox stated that he would not step down from his post after the controversy[12] and stated that he had thought the Cop Block article had been an "interesting read."[13]

On October 11, 2018 Cop Block became 1 of 559 pages and 251 accounts purged by Facebook for allegedly engaging in spam and “coordinated inauthentic activity" by creating “sensational political content...to build an audience and drive traffic to their websites."[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Berry, Conor (17 July 2011). "Trial of anti-cop, pro-govementtransparency defendants scheduled to begin Monday in Greenfield". Springfield Republican. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  2. ^ Hanley, N. Stewart (2011). "A Dangerous Trend: Arresting Citizens for Recording Law Enforcement". American Journal of Trial Advocacy. 34: 645–669.
  3. ^ Failinger, Marie (2012). "Talking Chalk: Talking Chalk: Defacing the First Amendment in the Public Forum". West Virginia Law Review. 115.
  4. ^ Hayward, Mark (5 October 2011). "Video shows West High student's arrest". New Hampshire Union Leader. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  5. ^ Johnson, Patrick (13 August 2012). "CopBlock founder Adam Mueller, a police-accountability blogger with Greenfield ties, found guilty of illegal wiretapping in New Hampshire". Springfield Republican. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  6. ^ "Adam "Ademo" Mueller, Journalist And CopBlock.org Founder, Faces 21 Years In Jail After Reporting School Police Brutality". Huffington Post. 6 August 2012.
  7. ^ Grossmith, Pat (6 August 2012). "Protesters hand out leaflets during jury selection in CopBlock.org wiretapping case". New Hampshire Union Leader. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  8. ^ "'Copblock' wiretap case goes to court in Manchester". New Hampshire Union Leader. 8 August 2012. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Court tosses felony wiretap conviction in taping of Manchester police captain, high school officials | New Hampshire Public Safety". Archived from the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  10. ^ Abbotts, Chris (26 July 2011). "Kershaw Co. GOP leader criticized for liking 'shoot a cop' article". WACH TV. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  11. ^ Smith, Ben (25 July 2011). "'Shoot a cop' flap in SC". Ben Smith on Politics and Media. Politico.com. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  12. ^ "Official says he won't resign over article". Augusta Chronicle. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  13. ^ Tau, Byron; Smith, Ben (27 July 2011). "South Carolina Republican refuses to step down". Politico.com. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  14. ^ Oliver, Darcy (2018-10-11). "Facebook removes another 800 pages and accounts ahead of midterms". CNN. Retrieved 2018-10-12.

Further reading

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