Undercover Police Officers Spied on Anti-War Activists

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — When opposition to the war in Iraq began to mount last year, city police sent undercover officers to anti-war meetings and rallies, collecting intelligence about the aims of activists, the department's chief confirmed.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Harry Dolan said the officers were sent after police received information activists planned unlawful measures, such as blocking traffic on a downtown Grand Rapids street.

Police had reason for heightened concern about protesters, because of the arrest of 12 people at a January 2003 rally protesting an appearance by President Bush, Dolan said.

The protesters were arrested when dozens marched through downtown streets after the main rally had concluded and refused police orders to disperse.

"We are living in a different time now. It's a different day," Dolan told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Sunday.

But war protesters say the surveillance infringed on their civil rights more than it protected them from terror. In one case, they say, police threatened the job of a protester and said they would arrest her if she identified undercover officers she recognized.

Abby Puls, 24, said she was leaving a Grand Rapids protest in March 2003, when undercover officers called her over to their car.

She claims that one of the men in the car took her hand, then squeezed it hard enough to force her to tell them her full name. The other hinted she could lose her job at a Kent County courthouse if judges found out she was "choosing sides" on the war, Puls said.

He also said she could be arrested for "hindering and opposing" a police investigation if she identified undercover police, Puls said.

Dolan confirmed officers, whom he would not identify, threatened Puls with arrest if she identified them. But the police chief said they did so because they feared their safety could be compromised. Dolan said the officers denied threatening her job and said no one squeezed her hand to make her reveal her name.