Nov. 20th shutdown of Mexican Consulate shutdown 11.20.06 in El Paso

Authored by: freeboot on Saturday, November 18 2006 @ 04:35 PM UTC

As of Saturday, Nov. 18 we have had two banners stolen from the UTEP campus... a free speech zone. This seems to be a direct reprisal by the EPPD, who has no jurisdiction on the camopus grounds what so ever. Reports by students indicate that banners were cut down by EPPD officers between the hours of 10:30 and 11_A.M. Reports by students indicate these were not University police and that the EPPD officers were not accompanied by the Campus Police department. A student (a Mexican National and fearful of reprisal) was told by one of the officers that in order to retrive the banners the "students who put them up in the first place will have to come down to the [west side] sub-station to retrieve them." When asked what the names and badge numbers of the officers were they immediately asked the student if she was a citzen and stated that if she was not she had no right or authority to ask the question. While responding to the student one of the officers began to draw cuffs from his belt and the pair retreated to their vehicle.
I called the westside regional commad center and spoke with the desk seargent, an fficer Whitaker, about who I needed to speak to about what had happened. She asked me who I was, and what my affiliation with the incident was. I responded that that was irrelavant and that all I needed was a name and number to call to continue my investigation, that I needed Log reports for officers reporting to the UTEP campus, and names and badge numbers for the officers and that if these were not supplied legal councel [previously sought] from the ACLU of El Paso would be contacted. Upon inofrming her of this, Seargent Whitaker became incidiary and abussive stating, " You don't need to be calling up here telling me that you're with the ACLU." I asked to speak to her supervisor and she responded that she, "was the sueprvisor". Sreaming into the phone upon my insistance in speaking with her supervisor she responded, "I don't care who your with untill the people who were directly involved contact this office you won't [inaudible yelling]" and she hung up. I immideately called her back, at which time she began to hem and haw about what she had jsut said and began attempting to ask me questions. I told her that I had nothing more to say and demanded that she put me in charge with a superior. Officer whitaker then relented and transfered me to a Lt. Tong. Tong, after hearing what had happened agreed to look into the matter. About thrity minutes after the initial conversation, Tong called me back and apprised me of the fact that it was not EPPD [though their sole presence has been coaberated by at least 10 students standing by the banners] that took the banners but was UTEP PD. He then provided me with contact info. for the supervisor on duty at the UTEP PD, an officer Perez.
I called officer Perez, explaining who I was, what my call was regarding, and related the incident to him. Perez, shocked, replyed that it "might" have been UTEP PD but that he was not sure and promised to look into it. An hour later my phone rang. Officer Perez apprised me that there was no log of anything of the described incident happening, that the banners weren't on the premises, and that I should call back on monday to inquire of their patrol commander, a Micahel Hanna. And soo the mystery continues... cops helping cops in an effort to stifle the voices of students and citzens alike.

Officer Whitaker, the rude pig, may be asked for via this Number 915-832-4400

Lt. Tong may be contacted via this number :915 585-1299

and Michael Whitaker may be contacted via: 915-747-5611
or
915-747-8158
or
915-747-7849

....have fun!
Freboot

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Authored by: freeboot on Saturday, November 18 2006 @ 04:42 PM UTC

Sorry about the spelling and lack of edits on the last one, I wrote it in quite a hurry...

As of Saturday, Nov. 18 we have had two banners stolen from the UTEP campus... a free speech zone. This seems to be a direct reprisal by the EPPD, who has no jurisdiction on the campus, grounds what so ever. Reports by students indicate that banners were cut down by EPPD officers between the hours of 10:30 and 11_A.M. Reports by students indicate these were not University police and that the EPPD officers were not accompanied by the Campus Police department. A student (a Mexican National and fearful of reprisal) was told by one of the officers that in order to retrieve the banners the "students who put them up in the first place will have to come down to the [west side] sub-station to retrieve them." When asked what the names and badge numbers of the officers were they immediately asked the student if she was a citizen and stated that if she was not she had no right or authority to ask the question. While responding to the student one of the officers began to draw cuffs from his belt and the pair retreated to their vehicle.
I called the Westside regional command center and spoke with the desk sergeant, an officer Whitaker, about who I needed to speak to about what had happened. She asked me who I was, and what my affiliation with the incident was. I responded that that was irrelevant and that all I needed was a name and number to call to continue my investigation, that I needed Log reports for officers reporting to the UTEP campus, and names and badge numbers for the officers and that if these were not supplied legal council [previously sought] from the ACLU of El Paso would be contacted. Upon informing her of this, Sergeant Whitaker became incendiary and abusive stating,

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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, November 20 2006 @ 11:38 AM UTC

what did the banners say?

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