Staff Blog
There’s something fishy in Francisville
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| The site of Friday's "investigation." |
| Photo | Isaiah Thompson |
At about 10 o'clock yesterday morning, Philadelphia police officers from the 9th District, including plain-clothes detectives and a police captain, showed up at a worn-down building on Ridge Avenue and 17th Street and began knocking.
Daniel Moffat, a 28-year-old resident and co-owner of the building, answered the door. It was not long before he was taken outside and detained. Moffat watched from the squad car as the officers entered the building and detained three other residents who were inside.
Then a funny thing happened: Homeland Security showed up. And more detectives. And then the Crime Scene unit. And then more detectives. And the Fire Marshall. And Licensing and Inspection. And then more detectives. All day long and into Friday evening, the building was crawling with officials from one agency or another.
Why the fuss?
9th District Captain Dennis Wilson told the four detained — and later insisted to City Paper — that he and his officers came to respond to a simple complaint that people were staying in a vacant house. It was only after his officers entered, he says, that he found further cause to detain the residents and, indeed, call in Homeland Security and a small army of detectives.
"Everything's wrong in here," he told CP gravely from the building's doorway. "We're still investigating this property and we're still investigating these people."
Indeed. At least three police officers at the scene, including Wilson himself, confirmed in one way or another that — whatever the initial motivation for their visit — they were now busy investigating the residents, whom they accused vaguely of being "terrorists."
"Lemme ask you this," said one Crime Scene officer. "Why's there literature about killing cops in there?" He declined to be more specific.
"Propaganda against the government," chimed in officer John Taggert, also with Crime Scene. Taggert, who was nice enough to grant CP "three questions, and only three questions," didn't elaborate on the nature of the "propaganda."
Captain Wilson took the accusations a step further. "They're a hate group," he asserted. "We're trying to drum up charges against them, but, unfortunately, we'll probably have to let them go."
Let them go they did — 12 to 14 hours after the residents had been detained, they were mysteriously set free without charges (the police released the last two, both female, at 3:30 in the morning, says Moffat).
Without charges, of course, the police are under no obligation to provide evidence of terrorism or other malfeasance. But the Fearsome Four (let's call them) have their own theory as to what motivated the police to come calling yesterday.
Some of the residents of the building, including Moffat, had been circulating a petition protesting recently added police cameras in the neighborhood. Moffat also helped distribute a petition calling for further investigation into the recent and infamous police beating of three unarmed suspects.
Moffat and others believe that the police are targeting them for their neighborhood activism. "If they interpret that as being hate literature, that's their prerogative, but it's my constitutional right, you know?"
None of the literature, Moffat insists, contains hateful, violent, or incendiary language.
The building, meanwhile, has been sealed shut. Robert Gilbert, who co-owns the building with Moffat (no relation, he says, to the Gilbert of the 'Gilbert's Shoes' sign in front of the building) was on the scene yesterday afternoon, looking out, he said, for his friends' property and his own building. "What I don't understand is why they came in without notifying me, the owner," he said. "My name's on the deed. It's not hard to find me."
Thanks for posting this and getting the word out. For anyone who’s interested, there’s a press conference on Tuesday at 1pm on the West Side of City Hall — see the release at http://phillyimc.org/en/node/68939
Hurm, using L&I to harrass activists for First Amendment-protected political activity is a page right out of the Philly cops’ 2000 RNC playbook. Remember the 8/1/00 raid on the Puppet Warehouse on Haverford Ave., where the cops arrested 76 folks for NOTHING and then had L&I come after the owner because he dared to rent space to folks to build puppets.
I guess these folks are “lucky” not to get hit with a dozen false charges for doing nothing. Of course, if you can arrest folks, steal their stuff, and then evict them- all without cause- the cops must have thought that false charges would give the activists a chance to find out what’s really going on in court.
[...] There’s something fishy in Francisville (2) [...]
Philly homeowners have had their property rights messed with enough. John Street (prominently featured as a fiery young housing-rights activist in the documentary, “Squatters: the Other Philadelphia Story”) destroyed the notion of private property using Eminent Domain abuse and the selective enforcement of L&I codes on anyone they wanted out of the way. Under Wilson Goode, a private home was simply firebombed and the whole city block burned.
[...] it also perpetuates a Rizzo-era vibe around the FOP that is out of date even if it does persist. TheClog: There’s Something Fishy In Francisville Blinq: Who Wrote ‘Kill The Pigs’ at 17th & [...]
Ha ha you stupid ass, dirty white trash. Here’s a clue…. hairy ass bitches are nasty and should’ve been charged with being skanks. Should’ve been court ordered to shave them bushy ass legs and nasty ass pits. As for your gay ass men should’ve been sent to Iraq to practice that arabic they’ve been studying! FUCKING LOSERS!!!
[...] There’s something fishy in Francisville (6) [...]
[...] Avenue near Parrish Street was led by 9th District Police Capt. Dennis Wilson, who was quoted in an online story by the City Paper as saying of the residents: “They’re a hate group. We’re trying to drum up [...]
[...] Avenue near Parrish Street was led by 9th District Police Capt. Dennis Wilson, who was quoted in an online story by the City Paper as saying of the residents: "They’re a hate group. We’re trying to drum up charges [...]
what is being done about this outrage? please tell me something is being done about it! Terrifying, unprofessional, insane fraternal order of police- “blue by day, White by Night”, isn’t that the KKK sticker some of ‘em have in their lockers? They are out of hand, way out of control, and needing to be STOPPED. we need a REAL police force in philadelphia- disciplined men interested in making our a community better and working WITH community activists and homeowners- not to mention renters!- to achieve that goal. NOT a bunch of insane racist whackos with berzerking problems.
The Sons of Zionism have spoken, there will be no dissent against the New Order. It appears that the 9th District is a gang of jack-booted thugs masquerading as peace officers.
[...] There’s something fishy in Francisville (11) [...]
[...] There’s something fishy in Francisville (12) [...]
[...] City Paper that they were “trying to drum up charges against them.” Read more and more and [...]
[...] plea deal calling for no prison and no criminal record if Chamberlain stays clean for two years. There’s something fishy in Francisville Indeed. At least three police officers at the scene, including Wilson himself, confirmed in one way [...]
[...] (You may remember Captain Wilson, by the way, from just over a year ago, when the City Paper reported that his officers had somewhat inexplicably raided a houseful of activists and detained them. Charges were never pressed.) [...]