Citizen
Founder's Club Member
Forum member "Dreamer" had what I consider a brilliant idea on another thread.
Basically the idea goes like this: every time an LEO perpetrates an illegal detention or harrassment contact on an OCer, OCDO members from all over the country send FOIA/Sunshine Law requests to the agency involved. Most of the FOIA/Sunshine laws I have read require the government agency to respond within a certain number of business days.
This is basically using the bureaucracy against itself. Imagine having to respond to 20, 40, 500 FOIA requests. The agency involved might get a little cautious about letting its officers get away with illegal detentions and harassing contacts.
This is basically a tactic used by a number of inmates in the Soviet gulag--the gulag was the system of prison camps for political prisoners. A few of them got really smart. They discovered that every complaint they made had to be investigated and responded to. So about twenty or forty of them got together and started burying the bureacracy with formal complaints. Bureaucrats didn't dare ignore the complaints. A bureaucracy operates on policies and procedures, everybody following the rules for self-preservation, supervisors looking out for that subordinate who is collecting info so he can get rid of his boss and move into that position. It didn't take long before the gulag bureaucracy was going nuts, and getting tied in knots trying to handle the complaint papers. At least one of the inmates was released early.
I have to get back to something else just at the moment, so I'll leave the rest of the planning to others. For example, a list of all the government records that could be requested for a police encounter would be useful. Some more thinking about how to approach an actual request avalanche, for example, I'm thinking the first several requesters can limit their expenses by splitting up among them which records they would request. Members with deeper pockets could go for the recordings. And, of course, there would be a separate thread where members could report back the responses they get from the government agency. Other suggestions?
And, hats off to Dreamer for applying the bureaucracy tactic to FOIA/Sunshine Law requests.
You can read more about the gulag story here: http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1108.html
Basically the idea goes like this: every time an LEO perpetrates an illegal detention or harrassment contact on an OCer, OCDO members from all over the country send FOIA/Sunshine Law requests to the agency involved. Most of the FOIA/Sunshine laws I have read require the government agency to respond within a certain number of business days.
This is basically using the bureaucracy against itself. Imagine having to respond to 20, 40, 500 FOIA requests. The agency involved might get a little cautious about letting its officers get away with illegal detentions and harassing contacts.
This is basically a tactic used by a number of inmates in the Soviet gulag--the gulag was the system of prison camps for political prisoners. A few of them got really smart. They discovered that every complaint they made had to be investigated and responded to. So about twenty or forty of them got together and started burying the bureacracy with formal complaints. Bureaucrats didn't dare ignore the complaints. A bureaucracy operates on policies and procedures, everybody following the rules for self-preservation, supervisors looking out for that subordinate who is collecting info so he can get rid of his boss and move into that position. It didn't take long before the gulag bureaucracy was going nuts, and getting tied in knots trying to handle the complaint papers. At least one of the inmates was released early.
I have to get back to something else just at the moment, so I'll leave the rest of the planning to others. For example, a list of all the government records that could be requested for a police encounter would be useful. Some more thinking about how to approach an actual request avalanche, for example, I'm thinking the first several requesters can limit their expenses by splitting up among them which records they would request. Members with deeper pockets could go for the recordings. And, of course, there would be a separate thread where members could report back the responses they get from the government agency. Other suggestions?
And, hats off to Dreamer for applying the bureaucracy tactic to FOIA/Sunshine Law requests.
You can read more about the gulag story here: http://lewrockwell.com/north/north1108.html
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