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Denver cops violated rights { April 20 1999 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1801.shtmlhttp://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1801.shtml
From Capitol Hill Blue
What Price Freedom?
Denver cops violated rights of ordinary citizens
By KEVIN VAUGHAN
Rocky Mountain News
Feb 20, 2003, 23:13
Six months after the April 20, 1999, shootings at Columbine High School, Denver police intelligence officers opened a file on a loose-knit group known as the Trench Coat Mafia that had been tied to killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
Officers included the names of 75 teenagers - some thought to be in the group, others believed to be their friends - and then ran computer checks on all of them.
"However, no information of criminal activity was disclosed," according to a document from the file written by an unnamed Denver police officer.
The documents were in a new batch of 309 pages of intelligence files released this week by attorneys for the city of Denver. They are part of the ongoing "spy files" lawsuit, which accused Denver police officers of violating the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters by watching their demonstrations, snapping their pictures and writing down their license-plate numbers.
In some cases, individuals and groups were labeled as "criminal extremists," even though they had not been accused of breaking the law.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the city on behalf of three individuals and three groups who contend they were "chilled" from exercising their First Amendment rights by the actions of police officers.
The city has acknowledged that officers in the intelligence bureau gathered information on more than 3,000 groups and individuals.
The documents released Wednesday indicated that officers kept tabs on everyone from anti-war protesters to members of militia groups, and from anti-abortion demonstrators to members of motorcycle gangs.
Among the documents was an eight-page report on the Trench Coat Mafia, a loose-knit group of students who painted themselves as outcasts.
The group was depicted in a picture published in Columbine's 1998 yearbook.
In the days and weeks after Harris and Klebold attacked the school, murdering a dozen students and a teacher before killing themselves, accounts varied on their involvement in the Trench Coat Mafia.
Although they were friends with several students in the group, they did not appear in the group's yearbook picture.
Investigators working on the Columbine task force forwarded the information about the 75 teenagers to Denver intelligence officers on Oct. 28, 1999, according to the documents.
Intelligence officers then took the picture to Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis, and he identified the students in the photograph.
And although the Denver officers found no evidence that any of the teens were involved in criminal activity, the Trench Coat Mafia was listed as a "street gang" in the intelligence files.
Under a section titled, "Notes," a Denver police officer wrote:
"Group of primarily high school students, viewed as 'outcasts' and known for attire (always wear trench coats). Two members became violent in 1999, and killed fellow students, then themselves, at Columbine High School in Jefferson County."
© Copyright 2003 Capitol Hill Blue
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