Asheville officials back police's decision to monitor civil rights groups

Joel Burgess | The Citizen-Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Asheville police monitor civil rights groups In 2016, the Asheville Police Department launched an intelligence gathering investigation into Black Lives Matter, Standing Up for Racial Justice and others.

Police monitored Black Lives Matter and Showing Up for Racial Justice

They launched the operation in 2016

The monitoring started in teh wake of the death of Jai "Jerry" Williams

ASHEVILLE - Two council members, including city government's second-highest ranking elected official, expressed confidence in police a day after revelations the department monitored activities of civil rights groups Black Lives Matter and Showing Up for Racial Justice as part of an intelligence gathering operation.

City Council member statements came Tuesday amid outcry from activists and residents following news of the operation launched two years ago.

One of the Asheville's most prominent civil rights leaders, local NAACP President Carmen Ramos-Kennedy, called aspects of the police monitoring as outlined in a Citizen Times investigation "extraordinarily disturbing."

'Concerns they had were legitimate'

Vice Mayor Gwen Wisler and Councilman Vijay Kapoor said they believed police concerns over alleged threats to officers in the racially charged aftermath of a 2016 police shooting of a black man were "legitimate."

Asheville Police Department officials said it was those threats that led Chief Tammy Hooper to launch the operation. But police have given only a few details, declining to answer Citizen Times questions about who made the threats or what was said.

Black Lives Matter and Showing Up for Racial Justice leaders said they knew of no threats from their groups, which they said aren't violent and are focused on reducing racism.

Interviews with the two council members Tuesday peeled back some of the secrecy surrounding the operation, touching on how it was done and whether it was conducted by undercover officers, as well as when council members learned of the operation and confirming it had ended.

Both said they were limited in what they could say because the discussions happened in closed council sessions.

Wisler, who is a member of the council's public safety committee, said she had to believe the "threats were legitimate." The committee advises council on police policies.

"I don't think they used police resources for minor things," she said.

In a separate interview, Kapoor echoed the vice mayor's sentiments, saying, "from what I've seen, I think the concerns they had were legitimate."

Other council members contacted for comment, including Julie Mayfield, public safety committee Chairman Brian Haynes and the council's two African-American members, Sheneika Smith and Keith Young, did not respond Tuesday.

Expectations from the mayor

Mayor Esther Manheimer said Monday she expected APD to use legal and common police strategies to keep the community safe.

Law enforcement experts have said the operation appeared to be lawful, but legal experts said other considerations matter. Those include how serious the threats were and if the operation is worth potential damage to public trust.

In a Facebook post, NAACP branch president Ramos-Kennedy called the operation an intimidation tactic and said she wanted to know what danger police thought the groups posed, which individuals were monitored and how it was done.

"This is extraordinarily disturbing that we even have to pose these questions," she said. "APD needs to answer these questions publicly."

Fear and distrust

Black Lives Matter President Delores Venable had said at a March 7 Citizens/Police Advisory Committee that a source told her she was among those being monitored.

In the months after the meeting, Venable declined to comment, saying she might be involved in a legal action. But Tuesday she posted on her Facebook page a letter to the council in which she called for the removal of Hooper.

With the newest information about the operation, she said residents who had worked to improve relationships between the community and police "will not come to the table any longer because of fear, mistrust and the inability of the department to give honest answers in public and to the media."

How the monitoring was conducted

The monitoring started in the wake of the death of Jai "Jerry" Williams who was fatally shot July 2, 2016 by police after a high-speed chase. The shooting was ruled justified after police and witnesses said Williams refused to put his hands up and reached for a gun. Protests ensued, culminating with the occupation of the police station by demonstrators calling for the firing of the officer involved in the shooting.

Venable also referenced the August police beating of an unarmed black pedestrian, which has become intertwined in the debate over law enforcement's relationship with African-Americans.

In defending aspects of the operation, Wisler pointed to the police statements that the operation did not amount to surveillance. APD told the Citizen Times that the monitoring happened on social media and at open meetings.

"They didn't do anything that wasn't public," the vice mayor said.

Black Lives Matter officials have disputed that, with education coordinator Sharon Smith saying she has observed police cars near Venable's home. Venable's mother, longtime activist and former council candidate Dee Williams, also said she was monitored.

As to whether the operation was undercover, Wisler said she wouldn't comment on that, but added, "I think it’s a question of what do you mean by under cover? Were they wearing uniforms?"

Police have declined to answer whether officers wore uniforms or whether they tried to conceal their identities, or even created backstories.

Kapoor said the council was told about the operation after the CPAC meeting where Venable and Williams confronted the chief about the monitoring.

He said he couldn't remember whether council members asked for the briefing or if staff approached the elected officials.

Being aware of First Amendment protections

The councilman said he wanted police to acknowledge and be aware of First Amendment protections and the history of government monitoring of civil rights groups, but he didn't want APD to make decisions on such operations based on an organization's "political philosophy."

"My thing is, do you have legitimate concerns about safety and are you doing it in a lawful way?"

Wisler confirmed for the first time that that operation had ended and said that was evidence the police were being careful about civil liberties, saying police stopped when they felt "there wasn't enough to follow up on."

Police officials had said the operation happened in July and August 2016 but refused to confirm it had ended. They would not say if the information gathered led to a criminal investigation.

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