"In the United States, Red Squads were police intelligence units that specialized in infiltrating, conducting counter-measures and gathering intelligence on political and social groups during the 20th century. Dating as far back as the Haymarket Riot in 1886, Red Squads became common in larger cities such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles during the First Red Scare of the 1920s. They were set up as specialized units of city police departments, as a weapon against labor unions, communists, anarchists, and other dissidents." (wikipedia 8/13/2012)

Phoenix Police Planning and Community Relations Bureau "Community Response Squad"

Phoenix Police Planning and Community Relations Bureau "Community Response Squad"
DO NOT LET THE SMILES FOOL YOU: 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

Resisting the PHX Police Red Squad


AUGUST 13, 2012: This blog is to document the struggle of Arizona's radical activists against the tactics of the Phoenix Police Planning and Community Relations Bureau Community Response Squad, AKA The Red Squad. It's being launched in the wake of a grave violation by a Red Squad detective, Chris Wilson, who was arrested last week for multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct with 2 minors. His victims, apparently, were young activists whom he had befriended in the course of his work as the Phoenix Police liason to the GLBTQ community. He confessed when confronted and sits in jail awaiting prosecution.

This post from another blog describes the concerns some community activists had with our Red Squad long before Detective Wilson's transgressions. It provides a starting point for those unfamiliar with protest policing in the city of Phoenix. The body of this blog will be a critical analysis of Red Squad tactics as they've affected our liberation movements - as well as individual activists - and a diary of our resistance. More than just resisting, we're fighting back.




PHX Red Squad busting Occupy "campers"

Lessons in resistance: Come armed with your video cameras, folks, to every protest our community has and film the Red Squad in action. Call them on their BS and send the link or embed code to us to post. Lets teach each other how best to deal with them from experience...

PHX PD Red Squad's Chris Wilson tackling CODE PINK LIZ...

Monday, November 18, 2013

Wilson's child victim simultaneously indicted as adult perpetrator - WHAT?

I'm sorry not to be keeping up with this blog of late. Chris Wilson's prosecution has continued to drag on, while he presumably sits in isolation in jail for his own protection. The youngest victim has filed suit agaisnt him and the city for the molestation. Remember that Wilson admitted to the sexual relationship - including the threesome both boys described in the charging statement. His own defense seems to rest on convincing the rest of us that both boys were actually consenting adults at the time of the abuse, and in fact cunnningly seduced him into this triangle - somehow Wilson's the victim here. That's one big reason I wouldn't feel safe with him out on bond if I was the family of the youngest victim.

It's apparent that the 17-year old vicitm felt like he was a consenting adult himself, and didn't initially want to press charges - which would explain why they're after him now. The law in this state wants to have it both ways with that kid, who was 17 at the time of Wilson's arrest: he's now being charged by the AZ AG's office as an adult perpetrator of sex crimes on the 14 year old. Brilliant move, Tom Horne. That would seem to nullify both the case that depends on him being a child and the one that claims he's an adult. 

It says a lot about how the criminal justice system really sees children and victims - they use that young man's age as a weapon to punish both him and his perpetrator...and he's going to be chewed up by this system, even if the charges are dismissed or he's aquitted. Both kids have been irreparably harmed by Detective Wilson's actions and the PHX PD's neglect. The Attorney General shouldn't be making the harm done to thos evictims any worse.

This case has been followed by Donna Rossi in the mainstream media, so let me share thier story here:


---from CBS5 (hit their site for video)---

Stunning new indictments in former detective's child sex case

Posted: Nov 17, 2013 9:33 PM Updated: Nov 18, 2013 6:18 AM PHOENIX (CBS5) - 
Donna Rossi
 
There are startling new developments in a case that sent shock waves through the Phoenix Police Department and the community more than a year ago.

Investigators arrested Officer Christopher Jay Wilson in August 2012. A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Wilson on 10 counts of sexual conduct with a minor for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old boy. On one occasion, the three reportedly engaged in group sex.

Wilson has been in jail since his arrest because one of his alleged victims was 14. According to state law, that makes the charge non-bondable.

On Monday, Wilson is expected back in court. His attorney, Robert Campos, will start his argument that his client has the right to have bail set because of a huge twist in the case in which one of his alleged victims has been indicted for child sex crimes.

CBS 5 News has learned the 17-year-old boy connected with the Wilson case has himself been indicted on 11 counts of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of attempted sexual conduct with a minor.

The victim, according to court documents, is the same 14-year-old as is named in the case against Wilson.
According to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, some of the charges stem from the reported three-way sexual encounter.

Campos said he had been trying to get authorities to consider charging the 17-year-old from the start.
"It's about time authorities have finally indicted this individual," Campos said.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office is prosecuting the older teen, who is now almost 19.

But that would create an interesting legal dilemma. The indictment makes the teen both an adult sexual assault suspect and a minor victim within the same court system, Campos said. It is that reason that CBS 5 News has continued to protect his identity and have not released his name.

Campos said he believes the indicted teen will have to invoke the Fifth Amendment if called to the stand to testify against his client, making prosecuting Wilson more difficult.

"It's going to be complex, whether or not he will be a useful witness in the prosecution of my client," Campos said.

Campos said he is outraged that the indicted teen is not in jail. He was living outside Arizona at the time the grand jury handed up the indictment and was summoned to appear in court to answer to the charges. The indicted teen was processed, fingerprinted and photographed, then released and allowed to return to his job outside the state.

According to state law, if a person is charged with sexual conduct with a minor and the victim is younger than 15, that makes in a non-bondable offense in most cases.

But Michael Arenz, who has represented the 17-year-old, doesn't think he ever should have been charged in the first place.

"At all times he was a child - legally a child. We believe he is more a victim than anything else given the other case that is ongoing," he said.

CBS 5 News has asked the attorney general's office why the teen is not in jail. Other questions that were asked included how the indicted teen can simultaneously be considered a minor victim and an adult suspect by the same court system. For two days, the attorney general's office refused to comment, stating the prosecuting attorney was on vacation.

The charged teen works for a law enforcement agency in another state. That agency said that he has been with them since May 2013 and is training to be a 911 operator.

A spokesman for the agency said they were unaware of the indictment until CBS 5 News inquired. After that, the indicted teen was immediately placed on unpaid administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

The 14-year-old victim has filed a multimillion-dollar notice of claim against the City of Phoenix and Wilson.

Chris Wilson's court schedule: UPDATED (Nov 2013)...

You can get updates on this from the Maricopa County Superior Court website.

--------------------Maricopa County Superior Court-------------

Case Information
Case Type: Criminal  Location:  Downtown  
Party Information
Party Name - Number Relationship Sex Attorney Judge Case #
State Of Arizona - (1) Plaintiff  N/A  Micflikier, Sara 
Christopher Wilson - (2) Defendant  Campos, Robert  Master Calendar  CR2012-142112-001  
Disposition Information
Party Name ARSCode Description Crime Date Disposition Code Disposition Date
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  3/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  3/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  3/1/2012  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  Dismissed Due To Grand Jury Indictment  8/16/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  3/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  3/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F6)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 
Christopher Wilson  13-1405 (F2)  SEXUAL CONDUCT WITH MINOR  6/1/2012 


Date Time Event
8/8/2012  11:00   Initial Appearance 
8/15/2012  8:30   Status Conference 
8/17/2012  8:30   Preliminary Hearing 
8/23/2012  8:30   Original Arraignment Hearing 
10/8/2012  8:15   Initial Pretrial Conference 
11/9/2012  11:00   Settlement Conference 
11/9/2012  11:00   Comprehensive PreTrial Conference 
11/13/2012  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
11/27/2012  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
12/10/2012  8:30   Pre-Trial Conference 
12/18/2012  8:00   Trial 
1/3/2013  9:30   Complex / Capital Case 
2/4/2013  8:30   Status Conference 
2/25/2013  8:30   Status Conference 
3/18/2013  8:30   Status Conference 
4/11/2013  8:30   Status Conference 
4/18/2013  8:00   Trial 
6/17/2013  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
6/21/2013  9:00   Complex / Capital Case 
8/5/2013  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
8/12/2013  9:30   Complex / Capital Case 
9/10/2013  8:30   Pre-Trial Conference 
9/17/2013  10:00   Trial 
10/4/2013  13:30   Oral Argument 
11/7/2013  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
11/18/2013  8:30   Complex / Capital Case 
12/12/2013  8:30   Oral Argument 
1/6/2014  8:30   Pre-Trial Conference 
1/9/2014  10:00   Trial 
2/18/2014  8:30   Pre-Trial Conference 
2/25/2014  10:00   Trial 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

AZ Republic puts Chris Wilson's victims on trial...


The Arizona Republic yesterday portrayed former Detective Chris Wilson as victim of exaggerations and misunderstandings, not a real suspect in repeated episodes of child sexual abuse. They must not have read the same charging documents I saw, where he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing those boys in detail. Maybe they didn't know he was stalking young activists at Occupy, too, building trusting relationships with them while treating most of the rest of us like criminals.

Hey, Republic: There's a reason this man has been portrayed the way he's been portrayed....some people did their homework - some of your people, even. Nice of him to let you interview him - look, he even gave you a pretty photo to use, instead of that one where he's a scowling cop or an accused criminal in his undershirt. 





This is nothing but a staged PR stunt, set up by Campos, who is using the Republic to attack the victims in full view of potential jurors out here, of course, to save his client. Campos is alleging that the kids were the ones who led this poor, noble, naive, trusting, navy veteran dog-loving decorated police detective astray, seducing him into what was really nothing more than an exercise of "poor judgement". Children, I guess, are the ones who can't be trusted when they report sexual abuse, and the policeman is unquestionably still the good guy here - how pathetic.

T
his bastard had to be court-ordered to even give up a sample of blood to see if he could have passed HIV or any other disease to the kids. His attorney argued that the kids could have been the ones who gave him and STD. The Republic mention that when they argued that this suspect wasn't "big into the gay scene" (which is defined in stereotypical terms of going to gay bars and drinking). Nope - Wilson just picked up children at work to have sex with...).


Why would such a swell guy refuse his victims' request to be tested, anyway? The only thing he regrets, apparently, is losing everything he loves by getting caught, for which we are supposed to have sympathy - never mind the harm he has has caused by his actions - to his victims, first, as well as to the trust of the larger community and the credibility of the Phoenix Police.

Here's the letter I submitted for the AZ Republic's editors today complaining about this article below - we'll see if they have the honesty to print it: 


"Yesterday's article about former Phoenix Police Detective Chris Wilson was disturbing. It presented him as a poor, misunderstood character who is deserving of our sympathy now that he's facing ten counts of child sexual abuse and stuck in jail pending trial. The reporter described his daily suffering, noted how this decent Navy Veteran spent his 44th birthday in jail, and even asserted that that he isn't promiscuous as if it was some kind of relevant fact, making him less likely to be guilty of the crimes he confessed to. She framed the charges against him as "allegations", putting "child molestation" in quotes as if it may not have really happened. She gives voice to the defense's argument that it wasn't really child abuse if the victims are already "experienced" with older men (what??). She leads readers to suspect that poor Detective Wilson was seduced, manipulated into being their friend, and is now being prosecuted as a result of these devious, sexually-active "young adults". In so doing, your reporter just helped a sociopath who confessed to molesting two children put his victims on trial. Shame on her and your editorial staff for letting Wilson use the Republic this way."



-------------from the Arizona Republic----------------------

Christopher J. Wilson
Courtesy of Robert Campos


By Cecilia Chan
The Republic | azcentral.com
Wed Jan 9, 2013 7:27 PM
Christopher J. Wilson spends his days pacing, reading and thinking about his life.

“I focus on what kind of life I have and what kind of future I have, which is pretty much non-existent,” Wilson says. “My life is over. Every day I think about it.”

Since his Aug. 7 arrest, the former Phoenix police officer spends his day in a 12-foot by 7-foot cell, facing 10 felony counts of sexual conduct with two underage boys. The Arizona Republic does not name victims of sexual crimes.

Wilson is housed alone for his protection in the administrative segregation unit of Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix. He is confined to his cell 23 hours a day, only allowed outside for an hour a day to a small recreation yard, where he says he looks at the freedom he used to have.

“What I want the public to know about me is I am not a monster as the media is portraying me,” said Wilson, who spent his 44th birthday in jail. “I didn’t use my position to groom these individuals. I am just a normal person, trying to live my life.”

Wilson is accused of having two sexual encounters with a 17-year-old and once with a 14-year-old boy. Wilson worked as a liaison to the Valley's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and met his accusers through his job, police has said.

Wilson, who is openly gay, was a 14-year veteran with the Phoenix Police Department receiving glowing annual reviews from his supervisors.

Wilson said he chose law enforcement because he loved serving the community. He also served four years in the U.S. Navy and a brief stint as a detention officer with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Wilson told The Republic on Wednesday that he “wasn’t big into the gay scene,” drinking alcohol or going to gay bars.

Instead, Wilson, who’s had steady boyfriends, preferred mountain hiking or catching a movie with friends.

According to court records, the mother of the 14-year-old boy learned of the encounter and contacted the authorities.

The family of the 14-year-old has since filed a $10 million notice of claim, the first step toward a lawsuit, against the Phoenix Police Department, Wilson and Assistant Chief of Police Tracy Montgomery.

It alleges that the department and Montgomery were negligent in the supervision of Wilson, which resulted in the “sexual molestation” of the 14-year-old, who is traumatized.

City spokeswoman Toni Maccarone said the claim is under review and could not comment further.

Wilson said he was not a boyfriend or dated the older boy, who was living on his own.

Wilson said he did buy three suits and shirts for the older boy for work because someone had done the same for him when he was a struggling police reservist in Colorado.

“I did this out of my own good will,” said Wilson, who added he didn’t expect anything in return. “We were just friends.”

His attorney Robert Campos would not let Wilson discuss any specifics about the allegations.

Though Wilson acknowledged to police he knew both boys were underage and took the blame, Campos said Wilson neither admits or denies the allegations.

He also said that Wilson’s statements to police during his interrogation may not be admissible but declined to go into detail.

During Wednesday’s interview, Campos hinted at the strategy he might pursue to defend Wilson in court.

Campos characterized the two boys as “young adults” who have some culpability, not victims. Campos painted the two boys as far more mature than their age and experienced in relationships with older men.

Campos said the encounter, although unlawful, was one of mutual consent. He said the media have portrayed Wilson as a pedophile going after young children or grooming them a long time for sex.

“Certainly that is not the case here,” Campos said.

Instead, “it appears from our perspective (the two boys) set this up” and “they had already in their minds the potential of having some kind of relationship with my client,” he said.

Campos said Wilson was not blaming the victims but “he is saying they aren’t blameless.”

“My client used poor judgment,” Campos said. “And he was quite cooperative with the authorities but cooperation does not equate with justice in our system and that is a huge problem.”

Wilson says he regrets what has happened.

“I would have done things different,” he said. “Losing everything that I love hurts.”