Creepy! Protest against police shootings infiltrated by undercover police

In an earlier post on April 1, I reported that the city of Albuquerque had paid out $24 million to settle lawsuits brought on by its police department that has fatally shot 23 men since 2010. Understandably a majority of the citizenry does not trust the police force. When you're in a hole dig faster. If spying on people won't make them trust you I don't know what will. When hundreds of angry citizens including friends and relatives of the shooting victims turned out for a peaceful protest their ranks were supplemented by members of APD's Criminal Intelligence Unit including one officer who did one of the shootings. When confronted by the media a APD spokesman said the undercover officers were sent to the demonstration to “ensure (the protesters’) safety and the safety of the community.”
With friends like that...
From channel KRQE's web site;

It is unclear whether the sergeant was armed, but he carried something to shoot with: a high-end Canon camera with video and still-image capabilities.
At several points on Saturday, he had the camera trained on demonstrators, who chanted things like “They say ‘justified,’ we say ‘homicide,’” and carried signs bearing messages such as “Not one more shooting,” “Jail killer cops” and “End APD violence.”
 

 


Police Chief Gordon Eden was hired in February to restore a semblance of sanity to the APD but quickly dissipated what little trust he enjoyed when he promoted a police officer accused of burning off part of a homeless man's ear. When he termed the fatal shooting of an unarmed, mentally disturbed man in the back as"justified" he was finished as far as his opposition is concerned. In May protestors took over a City Council meeting demanding his resignation.



It's time for the chief to go.