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From the Jul 11 – Jul 17, 2002 issue

Negative Sign

Cops Remove Activists' Political Yard Signs

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On the Fourth of July, a few dozen volunteers from the People's Coalition for Justice (PCJ)--a lefty social-justice activist organization--spent their holiday pounding signs into the ground throughout the Central Area.

Their signs featured a caricature of a police officer squashing people under his palm and advertised the PCJ's upcoming "No Confidence Vote" on the police. (The group had organized a July 6 vote in the traditionally minority neighborhood, testing the waters about the community's confidence in the Seattle Police Department.) They drove their decidedly anti-cop signs into the ground near other political signs, like the signs for legislative candidates in upcoming elections.

But a few police officers followed PCJ volunteers around and removed at least two dozen of their signs. Perhaps they weren't thrilled with the caricature, or the idea of a vote that asked, "Do you have confidence that the Seattle Police Department treats all citizens equally, regardless of race?" One cop was even caught on videotape pulling up a sign.

Stranger Personals

William Broberg, an attorney for PCJ, called the SPD's East Precinct that afternoon to complain. "It was selective enforcement of the law, as well as some abuse of authority," Broberg says. He eventually left a message for the police department's attorney, Leo Poort, who called him back the next day and pledged that the cops would not remove any more signs.

Despite the difficulty in advertising the vote, PCJ set up tables at a half dozen locations--like the Safeway at Rainier Avenue South and Charleston Street, and at the intersection of 23rd and Union--and collected about 2,013 votes, mostly from blacks, Asians, and Latinos. The result: 87 percent voted "no confidence" in the police department.

PCJ leader Dustin Washington acknowledges that the vote is not necessarily an accurate measurement of all Seattle citizens' thoughts on the police, but it does represent the residents of the 37th District, the Seattle district where a high percentage of residents are people of color. "This vote was done in the 37th District because that's where there's been a historically negative relationship between people of color and law enforcement," says Washington.

amy@thestranger.com