My Testimony Regarding the ADAPT Spy Files

Because of the publicity, the police announced that anyone who suspected that they were under investigation could request their files. I requested and received files that the police kept on me and on ADAPT, the disability rights organization that I am a member of.

The Denver Public Safety Commission held a hearing regarding this, and I testified on behalf of ADAPT. My testimony is below.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission:

My name is Anita Cameron. I am a member of ADAPT, a national, grassroots disability rights organization whose national headquarters are located here in Denver. ADAPT has been in existence for 18 years. ADAPT's goal is to gain equal rights for people with disabilities in all facets of life on the local and national levels. We do this in a number of ways: educating the public about the issues that concern and affect people with disabilities, creating legislation that gives people with disabilities the right to live in the community, meeting with, and educating elected officials about the impact that certain policies may have on the disability community, and when all else fails, protests that sometimes includes nonviolent civil disobedience.

It is this element of ADAPT activities, and the subsequent behavior of the Denver Police Department that I am addressing this evening. ADAPT is one of the groups that the DPD has been gathering intelligence on. I have a copy of some of the files that have been kept on ADAPT, as well as on myself as an individual due to my activities with ADAPT and other social justice organizations. On March 7, 1999, ADAPT showed up at a rally for then presidential candidate George W. Bush. Our intent was to observe the proceedings, and to try to hand a copy of a piece of legislation that we wrote to Mr. Bush. There was no protest, nor was one intended, but this event was billed by the police as a protest, and ADAPT was entered into the ORION database. On March 27, 2000, a detective named Ray Ayon called the ADAPT offices posing as a person with a disability needing financial assistance in order to get a new wheelchair. He also asked to be put on the ADAPT mailing list. According to the report, he called back again, under an assumed name and asked would ADAPT be participating in any protest in the near future.

The police say that they don't spy on groups and individuals for political reasons. They say that they always have a reasonable suspicion of possible criminal activity. Since when is gathering peacefully to exercise one's First Amendment rights a criminal act? Protests and protesting is an integral part of American history. Even when nonviolent civil disobedience is involved, it is a far cry from the violent crimes that the police should concentrate on solving or preventing. Unfortunately, for many marginalized groups, protesting is the only way that that they can be heard. In the case of ADAPT, protests only occur when our efforts to get meetings to discuss pertinent issues are consistently rebuffed. When ADAPT is protesting an entity, know that weeks or sometimes months of letter writing and discussions have come to nothing. If the powers that be would listen to us and work with us to resolve an issue, we would not have to resort to protests, and suffer the further indignity of being branded terrorists.

Contrary to the assertions of the police department, I do believe that they are spying on groups and individuals for political reasons. I certainly believe that in the case of ADAPT. We are a nonviolent group, but we have been labeled "militants", "radicals" and "terrorists" because we engage in protests and in civil disobedience. With the introduction of the USA Patriot Act and other proposed legislation, it will be that much easier for the police to spy on people. I feel that this is a dangerous trend. This amounts to an erosion of our civil liberties, and we must fight against this. The spying on Denver's citizens by the police department must be investigated, and must come to an end.

Thank you very much for your attention, and for allowing me to speak.