Re: ICPD “Party Bust”

Sample letter to the ICPD’s Police Chief / Division Commander

Hi,

I just saw a video from “Vote No New Jail” documenting a raid your department carried out on 9/6/14 at 40 S Johnson Street in Iowa City [1], and I’m very concerned about the culture within your department!

I know for a fact that people in the house told the officers that they didn’t have permission to enter or stay inside, and that one of your officers responded with “We are already in here!”, which raises serious questions about the legality of the police entry.

In less than 5 seconds, one of your officers produced a stun gun. He had no reason to feel threatened — he just did it to intimidate and gain absolute compliance.

The aggression of your officers, including yelling at the party guests to leave, and treating them as if they were somehow violent when they tried to ask questions was totally unwarranted. The people at the party were scared and confused!

To top it off, the video shows one of your officers trying to take the camera phone from the person filming the encounter and pushing him into a hallway. Not only it’s bordering on personal assault, it’s also an assault on our First Amendment rights.

Can’t you see that these tactics are needlessly escalating a one-hundred percent peaceful situation into a violent chaos where anything can happen, dramatically increasing the risks of injury or death for everyone in the room including the police officers themselves?

I’m absolutely disgusted with what I just watched, and I demand a swift and transparent investigation of this incident.

If you don’t correct this injustice, I pledge to write to my congressman and the press, donate money to put an end to the militarization of the police, and withhold my support from the elected officials appointed above you.

[1] https://medium.com/@VoteNoNewJail/icpd-party-bust-7b2516208cde

Respectfully,