It was in this context that the planning for the RNC demonstrations took place. In 2006, in
five internal police reports made public as part of a lawsuit, "New York City police commanders candidly discuss[ed] how they had successfully used 'proactive arrests,' covert surveillance and psychological tactics at political demonstrations in 2002, and recommend[ed] that those approaches be employed at future gatherings." A draft report from the department's Disorder Control Unit had a not-so-startling recommendation, given what did happen at the RNC: "Utilize undercover officers to distribute misinformation within the crowds."
According to Dwyer, for
at least a year prior to those demonstrations, "teams of undercover New York City police officers traveled to cities across the country, Canada and Europe" to conduct covert surveillance of activists. "In hundreds of reports, stamped 'N.Y.P.D. Secret,' [the NYPD's] Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law, [including] street theater companies, church groups and antiwar organizations, as well as environmentalists and people opposed to the death penalty, globalization and other government policies." Three elected city councilmen -- Charles Barron, Bill Perkins and Larry B. Seabrook -- were even cited in the reports for endorsing a protest event held on January 15, 2004 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles...Repression.htm