Chris Wilson: Indicted and soon to be buried.

QUEERS ARE COOL.

IT'S THE COPS 

WHO CAN'T BE TRUSTED.

ABOLISH THE PHOENIX POLICE 

RED SQUAD.

(MY NEWEST T-SHIRT DESIGN...)

Made it to court for the reading of Chris Wilson's indictment by Judge Brian Rees. He has a public defender, and it looks like he's going to be in Joe Arpiao's "protective" custody (now that's an oxymoron) for the duration; under the Arizona Revised Statutes, the charges involving that 14-year old aren't bailable under any conditions. 

He's going to have a hell of a road from here on out, even if he somehow gets acquitted or the charges are miraculously dropped. Once you're charged with a sex offense against a child in Arizona, your life is pretty much over. Only a few folks I know have managed to fight back, and that's largely because they're actually innocent (like Courtney Bisbee, who's still fighting). The process of prosecution itself destroys human beings, good and bad alike.

Anyway, channel 3 news was there, and I chatted with the reporter from the AZ Republic afterwards - she was expecting Occupy Phoenix to be there. As were the cops, apparently - they had two armed deputies at each set of doors, and at least a couple of detectives circulated around the huge room. No one gave me any grief, though, and I was able to educate some folks in the crowd about the Red Squad before it all got started.

Wilson looked like hell in stripes and cuffs, for what it's worth - not that anyone looks good when being paraded into court from jail, but he was gray and gaunt and probably freezing cold. The courtroom is shiny and new, the seating is extra comfy, the technology is beyond me, and all the criminals are kept in a glass room now instead of in the jury box, but the prisoners all still look cold and beaten down, and they still wear pink underwear under their stripes, lest they forget one must be mocked and repeatedly humiliated until proven guilty in Maricopa County...

Wilson's next hearing will be October 8 at 8:15am in Maricopa County Superior Court. Call the criminal court info desk the day before to confirm time and place (602-506-8575). The case number to reference is CR2012-142112-001. 

As for myself, I don't think I'll be going to his future court dates. My focus now is not on Wilson's suffering - the system will probably punish him pretty harshly. It already is, and it's not something I take pleasure in watching. The problem for us left to deal with is really the continued presence of the Red Squad in our community, not the future of their exiled detective - except to the extent that he is now a prisoner whose rights and humanity I care about.

Stay tuned here for updates on Wilson and send your Red Squad stories as well as thoughts on police alternatives to redsquadresistance@gmail.com.

Wilson's Indictment to be read: Aug 23, 8:30am.

Chris Wilson apparently waived his preliminary hearing today. His next scheduled appearance is on Thursday, August 23, 8:30am, 3rd floor of the new Superior Courthouse (175 W. Madison St.). His indictment will be read at this hearing. Below is the number to call the day ahead to confirm that it's still on - I'd encourage anyone to do that who plans to come.

Beyond the indictment, I don't know that I'll be going to more hearings unless he takes this to trial, which I doubt he will. I plan to put my energy into protesting the Red Squad instead - the criminal justice system will be sure to punish Wilson handily, more so than his victims would probably even desire. I don't think it needs my encouragement to do its dirty work, anyway. But if you have a different take on this, please send in a guest post to redsquadresistance@gmail.com.

Peg

Friending the Phoenix Police...

The most helpful thing I have to offer my comrades here is the truth of my own experience with the Red Squad. Reserve your judgement, please, as this is going to come out in pieces, and I'm still figuring it all out as I go. 

Here's Part I:

I was actually really fucking with this guy, not flirting with him. 
At least I thought I was...

PUENTE March for Dignity and Justice

Steele Indian School Park, Phoenix

July 28, 2012

The first time I remember meeting Sgt. Mark Schweikert was in front of the Phoenix Police HQ on W. Washington Street the day after his colleague Sgt. Sean Drenth was murdered, back in October 2010. I had spent most of the preceding two weeks protesting the Phoenix Police over the brutal and unjustified killing of Danny Rodriguez by PPD officer Richard Chrisman, and was preparing for an upcoming Day Against Police Brutality action - I'd been hating the police a lot of late.

But the news about Sean Drenth saddened me, hitting kind of close to home. Whether or not one thinks he was crooked and about to turn state's evidence - and was thus murdered by his own brothers in blue - is a side issue. As news of his death spread through my Facebook community, I saw a handful of people outright celebrating another cop being taken off the beat. It didn't go over well with me, and I went on a rant of sorts.

I was pretty removed from radical politics at the time, trying harder to get others to join me in my fight with the DOC than to figure out what their things were and why they felt as they did. My reaction to the celebrations over that cop's death was intensely personal. My father, the man who taught me to be the radical I am today, was a military intelligence officer who wore the uniform of the state for most of my life. At one point he was the Director of Security at Fort Dix. He believed passionately in his mission to defend America and Democracy the world over, and spent a considerable amount of time overseas in combat with people I may have called my comrades in another time and place. 

I have had a great many problems with my Dad's devout patriotism, and still prefer not to wonder about the things he may have done in my name, as an American soldier in war. But I know my father to be a good man nonetheless, one who defies racism and promotes equality in his relationships and business dealings, despite his conservative politics. He expressly taught me to question authority, and to resist Power if the compromise demanded for reward or privilege was of my values - which it always seems to be. He lived to regret that, I think, because his was the first authority I challenged as I aged. But I owe much of who I am to that man, and I love him dearly. 

So, while I regard the police as enemies of the People, generally, I do not accept the premise that donning the uniform of the state turns one into a non-person and justifies an outright celebration of a cop's murder. I also live with the grief of survivors of homicide and suicide every day, and would not wish that on any officer's family, no matter what I may think of the victim themselves. I was furious with my Facebook friends who felt otherwise, and stormed out of the conversation and my home to work out my frustration in chalk. My drive to the Capitol, where I found most of my favorite targets, took me by the Police HQ, where I impulsively stopped and got out to leave a giant peace sign on their sidewalk - more for myself, I think, than for them.

I wasn't expecting media to be there, and was interrupted to explain my offering: the Peace was just for the day for them to bury their dead, I basically said - the war would be back on again  tomorrow.

That was when I met Mark Schweikert; formally, anyway. He and Chris Wilson were heading out of the PD and stopped to see what I was chalking. Schweikert was touched - he said that Drenth was not only a colleague but a friend of his. I could identify. My ex-lover sat down in front of a train a few years back, so I knew how devastating news of such a sudden and violent death could be to a close-knit community, which I assumed the PHX PD was - and at the time no one really knew how Drenth died. I guess we still don't. 

In any case, I had a moment of sympathy for the police that day. My right to express myself on their sidewalk even if it wasn't what they wanted to hear was affirmed, though they were visibly relieved to see what I was leaving, considering my messages of the preceding two weeks. We chatted for a minute about the legality of my chalking. Mark told me to have cops or security guards who give me trouble over what I do on the public sidewalk call their squad if I need to; Chris Wilson gave me his business card since Mark didn't have one. 

It didn't seem to be any big deal to me to accept the Red Squad's protection, so to speak. I felt they were doing the job they were supposed to - which was to defend my free speech rights. I handed the card a few times to bank guards and beat cops who would enthusiastically call the Red Squad to come arrest me, then wish me a good day and back off every time. Basically, until the rest of the town learned they would just have to put up with me, Schweikert and the PPD Red Squad had my back. For awhile, at least, I appreciated that.

That was the beginning of my long slow dance with the Red Squad and their Sargent, Mark Schweikert. I didn't do much critical analysis of their role as the protest police back then - I took it at face value that Mark and Al and their buddies really did just want to help make sure we all had a safe, pleasant protest experience. The long time peace activists seemed to trust that much as well - the Red Squad was a familiar, even reassuring part of the protest landscape in Phoenix. And most of the PHX Police were beginning to recognize me and wish me well in my sidewalk activity...which admittedly took the fun out of some of it, and certainly added to my sense of complacency. No one was beating our heads in at the actions I was going to, at least, so as protest police go, I must have thought, Phoenix was relatively okay.

Yes, I'm a middle class white woman, by the way, and that was my privilege speaking up there. It wore off real quick, once I got into the trenches here.

I am not the only one in the activist community who has been so seduced. Fortunately, the anarchists I hang with have never hesitated to question the role of Phoenix police in suppressing liberation movements. The cops never tried to engage them in friendly relationships, of course, which protected them from the kind of corruption people like me are vulnerable to. Smiling at me is as close as Phoenix cops get to being nice to anarchists, I think, and I don't really count since I can't articulate anarchist theory well enough to really say I can represent any kind of anarchy, even anarcho-feminism. I just know that many of the people I love and trust the most are sworn anarchists, I am in sympathy with their politics, I draw power and inspiration from their movement, and I appreciate the diversity of tactics they bring to the struggle.

Those folks I was so angry at on Facebook about Sean Drenth's death are really the ones who have taught me the most about critiquing the police - they were far more astute about state power than I was at the time, and helped me rein in my sentimentality about my old man before it got me into trouble. That's not to say I think we need to dehumanize our enemies in order to fight them effectively - not at all. It's just to say that we need to be sure to recognize the enemy when we see them, and call them what they are...and whether we like to admit it or not, they are human beings, not pigs.


Human or not, though, their objective is to keep not only our direct actions but our liberation movements from making any real impact on the status quo. Not only is that not something I would tolerate among my friends, it's a sure indicator that you're talking about an enemy soldier. They wear the trusted uniform of the state instead of white hoods but they are in the employ of an institution which exists to oppress, repress, and suppress the masses to the well-being of a privileged few: a white supremacy is what the whole "justice" system in this state supports. The standard MO of the police is also to exploit our communities' fears, prejudices, and vulnerabilities in order to maintain their own positions of privilege and power as our "protectors" - or rather, our keepers.

I am tired of being kept, frankly, and I can't think of any institution more contemptible to work for than those which make up the Prison Industrial Complex...and for their role, I must assert again that while police officers are indeed human beings, they are also the enemies of freedom. If you are a community activist committed to a liberation movement and you trust a cop, beware. 

Rule number 1: Do not "friend" the police. Any of them. Trusting you with their vulnerable or "human" side - or offering special privilege - is part of the seduction. Make it clear to them that you can only be trusted to turn their weaknesses against them because they are the enemy, and refuse to accept any of the privilege they may offer, no matter how small.

Peggy Plews

Disorder in the court! No sign of Wilson.

Made it down to the courthouse late this AM with one of my signs and some fliers; everyone else was already inside. I figured there was a good chance nothing would happen, so I took my position on Jefferson with my message about Queers being cool, and stirred folks up about not trusting cops. I went home while the troops inside were still toughing it out, though. Apparently about eight of us made it to court this AM, and waited for hours.

As of the latest report on the Spacebook "Preliminary Hearing" event page, Wilson's case wasn't called this morning, and the gang was thrown out of the courtroom for creating a disturbance before it recessed for lunch. What kind of disturbance there was, if any, I don't know. I find the whole reason we had to be there disturbing, frankly. 

The next scheduled court hearing for Chris Wilson is Friday, August 17 at 8:30 am in the new Superior Courthouse, 175 W. Madison St., PHX 3rd Floor, Courtroom 3A (today it was moved to 3B, so ask when you get there).

Wilson Preliminary Hearing: FRI AUG 17 8:30

sorry for the confusion about the court appearances, folks.  It'll be good to touch base in person with people this AM anyway.

Here's my sign:

 the most important message we need to relay 

in the wake of this, I think...

For those of you thinking about going to court this morning, it is apparently just a status conference, which I don't think anyone else is privy to. Here's what we want to make a showing for:

Phoenix Police Detective Christopher Wilson

Preliminary Hearing

Friday, AUGUST 17 at 8:30am 

Maricopa County Superior Court

South Court Tower ROOM 3a

175 W. Madison, PHX 85003

 (This is the new court building)

Am attaching a suggested flier below to hand out that day...feel free to print and distribute, or come up with something of your own. It would help if anyone has a stash of "KNOW YOUR RIGHTS" cards to bring by and hand outFriday morning while people wait to get into the courthouse.

A brief pre-history of the Phoenix Red Squad.

This contribution comes from an old Phoenix-area radical...

-------------------from MB---------------

I would like to write this to get the ball rolling on other more in depth accounts but it is important to note there was a time before now when dealing with the Red Squad was for lack of a better term, light-hearted. In the late 90's and early 2000's when radicalism in Phoenix began to slowly re-emerge from a mostly long dormant sleep, demonstrations and actions began to pick up steam. The vast majority of this beginning was spent with Red Squad Detective Al Ramirez. Al, would show up to all sorts of events from picnics to protests. This is a personal account and others might differ but from my stance Al was the old school cop that felt his job was to be an actual liason with “communities” from the Phoenix Police Department. Sometimes, events that were designed to be more confrontational or larger in scope Al would be absent from. There were other Cops on the squad at the time but generally, we dealt with Al. Or rather, Al dealt with us.

The name red squad, was tongue in cheek, at least for me, I never got the feeling in 2001 that we were all about to be deported to Russia. There were some interesting moments looking back on it when I really started to notice things change. Twelve years on having worked in the corporate world, 2001 and 2002 should have felt like that moment when a client says “oh, we would like you to meet our new director.” This generally, is always a bad sign. This was around the time when JTTF's were proliferating throughout the country, the feds had completely switched their focus to anarchists prior to September 2001 and local police were being trained by departments that had been dealing with radicals for years. I remember being at a protest around this time, I honestly don't remember if I overheard it or if someone pointed it out but a new lady from the FBI had showed up, with the red squad.

Things began to change slowly at this point and really for me, ended with a big moment for “activism” in Phoenix Arizona. We started hearing a little less from the red squad at this point and more from columns of police at demonstrations and city lawyers showing up at our meetings. You could say that it was the post September 2001 way to deal with dissent, but I don't think for a second without planes flying into buildings it would have been different. The thing was, they were not quite ready to use tactics they had developed in the drug war on radicals. But you can be sure, that is what they were going for. It was around this time we found out that police departments local and national were classifying radicals as a gang.

We still had a bit of ways to go, in 2003 after one of the largest actions led by radicals in the history of Phoenix we set our sights on International Womens Day. We were determined to have a big march with a celabratory feel led by anarchist women. The one thing that many of us knew: the police had been threatening mainstreem groups saying “what happened on February 15th would not be tolerated.” This was in reference to 3000+ people completely tying up traffic in Downtown Phoenix for hours, and hours. Many of the organizers knew that an all out confrontation with PPD at International Womens Day was not the right step, what we failed to take into account was the simple fact that: the PPD were determined to have a confrontation.

The tension was in the air, 800+ people showed up to the demonstration, there was a festive tone amongst the majority of the participants. There was little to no police involvement for the majority of the march. As we entered the Phoenix Arts District, out of nowhere police officers on horseback attacked, with a column of cops backing them up. Many arrests and injuries were recorded. But most telling, as the police horses advanced, there was Al, clearly confused and frustrated as to what just transpired. What happened was at least at my vantage point, clearly out of his hands. For me, that was the end of the beginning and what would signal years later a complete shift in how demonstrations were managed and who was managing them. If you told me that Al's group in 2000 would be able to thwart, trick and manage something like Occupy into oblivion, I would have laughed. Not only was that not their job, but the Red Squad didn't have those sorts of folks. Maybe it is just my personal experience, but it is very hard for me to imagine the red squad of the past being impressed with the red squad a decade on. And that's not to say that I desire either, it is just my reflection, out of principle. \\

- MB

PHX Detective Chris Wilson screws LGBTQ community.

On Tuesday, August 7, Detective Chris Wilson was arrested for ten counts of criminal sexual conduct with minors, relating to his activity with both a 17-year old and a 14-year old victim. He confessed to almost all the allegations made by the youth involved, without an attorney. His crimes are not considered bailable, so in jail he still sits.  This Wednesday, August 15 at 8:30am there will be a preliminary hearing on his case (and presumably custody/release arrangements) in Maricopa County Superior Court, (South Court Tower) 175 West Madison Street,  3rd Floor, Courtroom 3a. We encourage all concerned citizens to attend.

Most Phoenix activists who know Wilson met him in his capacity as either one of the front line detectives with the Red Squad, policing all of our protest activities, or as the official liason from the Phoenix Police Department to the GLBTQ community. He was a frequent visitor to the Occupy canopies and actions this past year, often trying to befriend the most vulnerable and easily influenced activists. Some of the young guys he cultivated relationships with admired him so much that they had serious credibility problems in their own movements. It didn't help that he made them demonstrate their loyalty to him in front of their peers, among other things, by letting them defend him against hecklers at a hard core ALEC protest.

According to the information I have, the two youth who Wilson exploited are seen as activists themselves. The 17 year old, at least, knew Wilson through his role as the police liason to the GLBTQ community. They had several encounters over a period of a few months; the main incident with the 14 year old was just over the 4th of July, though, and he's the one who initially reported the sexual activity.

The Phoenix Police department apparently acted swiftly to interview and arrest Wilson - don't know how they couldn't though, given the circumstances. I mean, he waived his right to remain silent and confessed to just about everything - they HAD to arrest him or go to jail themselves.it's kind of a no-brainer that he's going to be punished to the fullest - he's a gay cop who was just busted doing a three-way with two boys:  trust me, he's going to be the most hated man in Arizona's prisons, if he survives Joe's jail while being prosecuted. Guards will be selling tickets to the guys to get a shot at him, if the DOC gives them a chance. Of course the PHX PD is distancing themselves from him as quickly as possible - I would too, if he was representing me as being trustworthy to the people he was screwing over on the side.

Chris Wilson did more damage to the gay community than to the Phoenix Police Department, though. No matter how disgusted the public may be when something like this happens, our cops will still get their overtime pay to protect and serve us, because the people of this state are ruled by their fears, not their hopes or values. The people will not only buy but they will wholeheatedly promote the line that Wilson's conduct doesn't reflect on the Phoenix Police Department as a whole - and they'll infer from the silence that the real reason he was sexually active with those boys is because he was gay - that it was all about sexual deviance, not the abuse of power.  That's what people tend to think about men who rape women, too.

I contend that Wilson's transgression was about both - and since others will spend plenty of time on the sex aspect, I want to discuss how Wilson showed no respect for boundaries with those youth in part because he's been taught to cross them all the time.


See, our comrades in Seattle and Oakland and New York have been getting raided and beaten since the Occupies took hold last fall. In Phoenix, the cops don't beat us down with their billy clubs or flashlights, though - not at our protests, anyway. They work hardest to befriend activists in order to gather intelligence from us about our social networks and vulnerabilities, key players and potential law enforcement targets, upcoming actions, and so on. We might as well be criminals, the way they see us. If we are at all effective in our activism, in fact, they should think we are a serious threat to the status quo. We appear to pose no such threat here.

The cops have infiltrated us to spread pacifism, paranoia and conflict. They've tied a lot of us up in court all year with bullshit arrests for "camping" when they knew full well those canopies on Chavez Plaza were first amendment props, not actual encampments - and they had the uniformed officers do the dirty work under cover of darkness most of the time, too. But most damaging of all, they've befriended some of us. They'd show up at Occupy smiling the day after our midnight crew was arrested like they didn't even know anyone had been taken away, and make nice with the fresh young activists and privileged white women who are most prone, they think, to fall for their seductions. 

That's largely who defends the humanity of the PHX police against the violence of my speech to this day, still asserting that the people pledged to give their lives defending the status quo are part of the 99%, too...GRR.

C'mon, folks, and get over the math analogy already - we don't all fit that neatly into two classes. What is most important to understand is that the police are not here to serve social justice or liberation movements - the city does not care that much about us having a safe free speech experience (i.e. having police escorts for marches, rallies, etc so we don't get hit by busses). They care about making sure that any fuss we manage to raise is neutralized as quietly and efficiently as possible. That's what the job of the Red Squad is - rendering us useless. That is not the action of an ally.

The Phoenix Police "Red Squad" Detectives.

(REPOSTED from The Diary of a Prison Abolitionist)

June 29, 2011

Top Row
Lt. Bryan Coley, Det. Rick Tamburo, Det. Dottie Conroy, Det. Al Ramirez, 

Det. Rick Flum, Det. Tony Davis

Bottom Row
Det. Jeff Wood, Sgt. Mark Schweikert, Det. Jerry Oliver, 

Det. Chris Wilson, Det. Chris Abril

For those of you not quite so familiar with Phoenix and political protest, I wanted to introduce you to the Phoenix Police Protest Detectives from the Red Squad (also know as the Community Response Team).

I found their photo on-line with a memo from the Secret Service thanking them for assuring that everything went smoothly with George Bush's last visit to town (I believe a bunch of people were planning to arrest him for crimes against humanity). Get to know their faces now, so you recognize them casually chatting it up with our less-alert buddies in the street.

These are the folks who are supposed to convince the rabble that the cops really aren't so bad after all - I mean, look at Al. Everyone loves Al. He just wants us to have a safe protest experience - he's really there to protect our first amendment rights, not inhibit them....right? In fact, he was the first Phoenix Cop to give me the okay to chalk the sidewalks ("just keep it clean, off private property, and on the ground" were the parameters I got).

Thanks for that, Al. I probably wouldn't be facing felony charges for graffiti today if you hadn't nurtured my blossoming artist within when I still thought of you as one of "the good guys"...hmm.

Anyway, this is to remind folks that the real job of every cop - no matter how sweet their smile or gentle their touch when they cuff you - is to maintain order - and that's the same order that has so many people hurting and dying at the bottom with a few living at the top in the luxury they stole from our labor (which we thank them incessantly for the opportunity to provide them at cut rates as we clean their toilets, wipe their asses, and tend their rock gardens...)

That's the order that even the nicest cops maintain for society, and they'll do their duty and haul you off to jail if you disrupt it. A little chalking and chanting from 11am-1pm is okay; channel our energy that way and it helps keep us from launching any meaningful resistance. These guys will almost always police us with a smile (don't be mistaken that that's precisely what they're doing), but that doesn't mean they wouldn't use every other weapon at their disposal, if they have to. In fact, I think they pull them all out for the Anarchists when the Nazis come to town just to keep their training current.

It's been increasingly my observation that - as a rule of thumb - if you're a community organizer and have a "friendly" relationship with your own Red Squad, it's probably a sign you've been co-opted, and your resistance is only enough to make both you and the cops look like you're doing your jobs. In fact, if that's the relationship, then they're keeping you and your people down more effectively than anyone is rising up. If you're really posing a threat to the status quo, even good old Al will come after you and try to take you out - so be heartened if he ever does. Overt tension with the protest detectives seems to worry some folks across progressive and even some more radical movements, but trust me, hearing an occasional "fuck the police" fly through the air - followed by a canister of tear gas being returned to the owner - is a really good sign of resistance.

In Phoenix, for the most part, the Left is much too friendly with the Red Squad, which is employed in the service of the Right (the so-called "People" here - not the real human beings). The cops define the boundaries of what's acceptable and what's too extreme for good citizen protest, it seems - and most progressive cause protestors are really just trying to be good citizens, in the end (listen to the language they use). The cops show us where free speech is and isn't allowed, and remind us when it gets to be a little too obnoxious. We politely police ourselves, even, so they don't have to.

Here's an example of diminished resistance. One day, Al actually convinced some protesters who had chalked outside the PLEA Union Hall to clean up after themselves when the action was over. They complied. Now, I flipped out when he asked me to do that, frankly. What's the point of screaming the truth at them across the sidewalk if you're just going to take it back when you get it all out of your system and pack up to go home? (actually, I apologized for screaming about that at Al that day, but that's different...)

They keep us corralled in invisibly-marked "free speech zones" where we can "safely" let off steam and think we fought a good battle before we all pack up for our parties that night and go back to our daily lives the next week, where we may or may not have the time or energy or means to resist until the Nazis march again in Phoenix...and in that way they have been winning - subduing the restless masses with their paternalism and smiles...maintaining the illusion that we are a real democracy because the people can protest...

Tell me, though, Red Squad - what if Americans, like the young and old alike across the Middle East - seriously demanded more democracy, more equality, more freedom, more justice - and threatened to kick our government out by force if we didn't get it in this election cycle? What would our police state look like then? Would it not look much like theirs?

See, I think that's precisely what we need to be doing, as too many of us have grown too numb to the growing human rights and civil liberties crises around us - much like some of us have stopped actively resisting the fact that we are still at war...too many wars.