Humboldt Area Peoples Archive

2001 Civil Liberties Monitoring Project Focus

Have you ever wondered about the state of your Constitutional rights? Ever worried that our civil liberties are being whittled away, bit by bit? Or have you considered how safe you really are in your home or car from violations by over zealous law enforcement or government agencies?

For over sixteen years the Civil Liberties Monitoring Project has been monitoring violations as well as working to empower people to exercise their rights, here in Northern California. It has been a hard and constant struggle, particularly in this era of repeated abuses by enforcers of the "War on Drugs".

This year our focus will include these issues:

California Highway Patrol (CHP) is infamous on the North Coast for constitutionally questionable activities. CLMP will again monitor and oppose driver profiling, inappropriate stops, and warrantless searches of motorists. We have initiated communication with the new Redway CHP Commander, hoping to bring attention to and eliminate these practices.
Humboldt County Sheriff's Dept. & CAMP Accountability. The head of the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting spoke willingly to us over the telephone, but when asked to be on our CLMP public radio show, she had to ask her "superiors" for permission. Now we're told that she's "too busy"... So is Humboldt's Sheriff...and the Under-sheriff... and the leader of the Drug Enforcement Unit. Too busy doing what? And how about requiring CAMP to finally mark those helicopters so they are easily identifiable?
Medical Marijuana. The people have spoken. It's a law now, "Compassionate Use", those who need marijuana as medicine should not have to deal with being harassed and criminalized for having and using it. The police campaigned strongly against the law and some are refusing to comply with it. CLMP continues to advocate that the intent of Prop.215 be honored.
Citizen Observer & Non Violent Demonstrators. CLMP have been working with local citizens and other civil liberties and human rights organizations to support neutral observers and monitoring of Mattole Forest demonstrations and hot spots.
Educational Activities. We will continue to produce our 1st Wednesday KMUD radio show and special programs, newsletters, news articles, Web page, tabling, Know Your Rights workshops and our Annual Civil Liberties Forum.
Hot line & Data Base. CLMP is getting calls through out the year for a variety of issues. We hope to expand office hours to accommodate times of high volume calls such as during CAMP season. We also plan to continue building our data base to provide better monitoring capabilities.

We live in an area which has been a cutting edge for many of law enforcement's invasive and intimidating tactics. CLMP strives to help reduce community tensions by educating our citizens, lending an ear to complaints, working for more open communication between the community and law enforcement, and when needed, acting as an intermediary between citizens and law enforcement.

The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project is a non profit organization funded solely by memberships and donations from people who appreciate our efforts. We receive no grant money from deep pockets anywhere - just memberships ($10 and up, slidin'), tax deductible donations and our yearly fund raisers. Even small contributions are appreciated and necessary to keep our hot- line, office, educational, and field activities going. Please take this moment to become a CLMP member or donate generously now!