Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

The Haymarket tragedy ... marked the emergence of a new form of policing:anarchists were indiscriminately surveilled not only as a means ofcrime suppression, but for ideological reasons alone .... This style of ideologicalwarfare against anarchism broke ground for subsequent similarpolice initiatives against socialism and communism. I')REPRESSION 101There's nothing surprising about the antagonism between anarchists and authorities.Anarchists oppose the powerful and the institutions that maintain their power,especially the state. 'loey don't like bosses, bureaucrats, politicians, landlords, orcops. And, for the most part, the feeling is mutual.The state's reaction to such opposition is equally un surprising. It is the natureof power to preserve itself, and this requires that efforts to change the structuresof society be actively opposed by those who profit from the existing order."Repression is a process by which those in power try to keep themselves in powerby consciously attempting to destroy or render harmless organi7tions and ideologiesthat threaten their power."20 Repression may be accomplished through propaganda,indoctrination, and other ideological means, or when these fail, throughmore direct means like harassment, imprisonment, cmd violence.More specifically, "political repression ... in the context of policing, may bedefined as police behavior motivated or influenced in whole or in part by hostilityto protest, dissent, and related activities perceived as a threat to the statusquO."21 In addition to the means listed above, repression may involve a muchbroader range of both overt and covert activities, including surveillance, falsearrest, media smear campaigns, the use of disinformation, burglary, blackmail,infiltration, sabotage, the promotion of factionalism, entrapment, threats, brutality,assassinations, and torture.TIle loml repression takes and the mtensltyWlth wmch iUs applied will depend ona variety of factors, including the aims of the target group, its popularity, its strengthsand weaknesses, it" methods, and the goals, popularity, and relative strength orvulnerability of the govefIl .. rnent But \vhatever its shape, t e purpose of repressionremains essentially the same. Based on his experiences in Northern Ireland, Kenya,Cyprus, and elsewhere in the crumbling British empire, military strategist FrankKitson described the task facing a government when rebellion surfaces:Translated into normal terms, the aim of the government is to regain if necessaryand then retain the allegiance of the population, and for this purposeit must eliminate those involved in subversion. But in order to eliminatethe subversive party and its unarmed and armed supporters, it must gaincontrol of the population.22Repression is a tricky business. And it is complicated by the fact that the initiativeseems to always rest with the subversives. Rebellions may brew, discontentspread, revolutionaties prepare their forces-all before the government even realizesit is facing a threat Intelligence work is intended to fill this gap.The Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations With Respect toIntelligence Activities (the Church Committee) outlines the three types of intelligenceactivities:152