>> READ: Interview: Police Executives' Research Forum Director Chuck Wexler <<
Despite being uninterested in telling anyone what to do, Wexler expressed a desire to help increase the peace if police violence continues to be a problem at Occupy.
"We do what we can. We know it's getting bigger. We pull people together and ask them: what did you learn from the Olympics? What did you learn from RNC, DNC? We're going to always do what we think is right."
But conspiracy theories die hard. At the same time that PERF released a public declaration stating that it had no role in coordinating the attacks on Occupy protests, the National Lawyer's Guild filed a FOIA request for all documents related to the crackdowns. The Guild's request mentions PERF by name and requests any documents "pertaining to federal coordination of, or advice or consultation regarding" police crackdowns on Occupy.
The Guild suspects that Homeland Security collaborated with the FBI and local police to coordinate the increasingly systematic attacks on the Occupy movement. The Guild argues that if this is true — if 18 cities across America coordinated their tactics in attacking Occupy — the public deserves to know. Let's hope they find the truth soon.
Follow Khadijah Britton on Twitter @KMBTweets.
NOTE: This article was updated on November 26 to reflect the following correction: the print version of this article mistakenly reported that the National Lawyer's Guild's FOIA request contained no mention of PERF. In fact, the request -- which is now linked from this article -- mentions PERF by name in its request for documents.
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