Op-Ed: Yes on 201 is a vote against random surveillance

If you don’t like random surveillance, or if you think that the privatization of the prison system was a bad idea, then you should be against the red light cameras. Because the red-light cameras aren’t owned by the Tucson Police Department. They aren’t run by TPD. Instead American Traffic Solutions, a corporation, runs the entire …

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Activist Schools Policemen on Court Order; Officer Listens

photograph of John Cooper speaking at Homelessness forum

This is how we like to see a confrontation with the police go down. On December 29, 2014, Occupy Public Land activist John Cooper engaged police officers outside of Veinte de Agosto Park in a conversation. The police were attempting to arrest people for being within ten feet of a Tucson bus bench, but Cooper …

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Wired: TPD Contract With Spy Tool Maker Prohibits Talking About Device’s Use

TPD Recruiting

OCCUPIED TUCSON CITIZEN In a story broken by Arizona-based independent-media D.B.A. Press and reported on in Wired magazine (though not in the Arizona Daily Star), it was revealed that the Tucson Police Department (TPD) signed a non-disclosure agreement in 2010 with Harris Corporation, the Florida-based maker of a cell-phone spy tool used by the department. …

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A selection of local activist arrests not covered by Tucson’s paper of record

Occupied Tucson Citizen's Activist Arrests

OCCUPIED TUCSON CITIZEN One long-time Arizona journalist told me recently about how surprised he was when he joined the staff at the Arizona Daily Star many years ago (he has since left) and they told him that they didn’t generally cover political demonstrations or actions. Such events, he was informed, were considered to be “manufactured …

Read moreA selection of local activist arrests not covered by Tucson’s paper of record