Simone WilsonNot everyone's buying L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck's glowing review of police performance during last week's raid of Occupy L.A.
A hacker group under Twitter handle @CabinCr3w just published the personal information of about two dozen LAPD officers on Tumblr. The crew has been badgering various police departments across America for what many suspect to have been an orchestrated joint crackdown on Occupy Wall Street.
An unnamed member of the crew tells KPCC reporter Tami Abdollah in a chat room that “the bay knows us from OpBART” …
… or, the attack on BART for censoring cellular communication between officer-involved-shooting protesters.
That would make them part of superstar hacker group Anonymous, whose offshoot LulzSec likewise published the personal information (including cell numbers) of a handful of Arizona law enforcement earlier this year. That hit was a statement against racial profiling and harsh immigration policing.
Credit: PHOTO BY TED SOQUI
The LAPD, on the other hand, have come under fire for their treatment of the nearly 300 protesters they detained and jailed in the wee hours of December 1.
“It all comes from those [LAPD] actions, and how the protesters are now being treated like criminals for practicing a fundamental right,” the hacker tells KPCC.
LAPD Commander Andy Smith admits to the Los Angeles Times that “It's a creepy thing to do, but what they did doesn't appear to be against the law.” Still, the first incarnation of the leak, reportedly posted December 5, has been removed from Sticky Paste, and the owner of that site denies taking it down.
(A list of every LAPD command staffer's email, however, is still up on Sticky Paste.)
As of yesterday morning, police were “investigating who may be behind the site,” the Times reported. To that, the hacker group snapped, “Funny that @LAPD is “looking” for who posted their info… not like we hid that we did it. Y U NO EXPECT US?”
The original Sticky Paste leak listed some names of officers' family members, including children. However, the Tumblr sequel censors itself in this regard, saying, “we will not release family names.”
Another strange factor: Some of the officers listed have been retired for years, and had nothing to do with the raid.
Update, 9:30 a.m.: This is getting good. The hacker group has begun bickering with LAPD homicide detective Sal LaBarbera, who launched a “cops on Twitter” debate this fall when he Tweeted a photo of a dead body, along with some casual commentary.
There's been an amusing back-and-forth this morning between @LAMurderCop and @MotormouthNews, which identifies itself as another @CabinCr3w account.
Motormouth: “I do not think it was responsible of you to post a crime scene photo, think with your head not with your badge. #ASSHOLE.”
LaBarbera: “Strong words,real lack of knowledge on ur part.”
Motormouth: “lack of brains on your part.”
LaBarbera: “To all my followers. God bless you. Please get in the spirit and check out tweets by @MotormouthNews Potty mouth”
Motormouth: “strange cause how can one sit and chat with bacon? plus, i will probably just send you pizza…”
LaBarbera: “going to Work now u know job, employment, contributing to society. Man up. N call anytime.”
Motormouth: “violating peoples right? police brutality? yeah good job, you know employment, taking away from society.”
Motormouth: “Hey Everyone go check out @LAMurderCop hes a pig armed with a computer, lets show him how to use one. #Anonymous #CabinCr3w #Antisec”
It should be said that all through the midnight raid, LaBarbera and a few of his buddies on the force (namely, Paul Vernon) were ridiculing and making fun of the arrested protesters on Twitter. We would know; we were completely glued to the conversation. Cop humor — somehow even more fascinating in 140 characters or less!
[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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