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The past week of raids on Occupy encampments across America had a disturbingly similar pace, culminating in the dismantling of Zuccotti Park here in New York City. It's not a coincidence. Check out this recording from "The Takeaway" show where Oakland Mayor, Jean Quan, casually admits that she was recently on a conference call with 18 other mayors discussing methods by which they can dismantle the movement (her comments start at the 5:30 mark):

"I was recently on a conference call with 18 cities across the country who had the same situation..."

And this AP Story reflects why Quan was so non-chalant about the whole thing - they were all talking to each other constantly!

Don't set a midnight deadline to evict Occupy Wall Street protesters -- it will only give a crowd of demonstrators time to form. Don't set ultimatums because it will encourage violent protesters to break it. Fence off the parks after an eviction so protesters can't reoccupy it.

As concerns over safety and sanitation grew at the encampments over the last month, officials from nearly 40 cities turned to each other on conference calls, sharing what worked and what hasn't as they grappled with the leaderless movement.

In one case, the calls became group therapy sessions.

The article quotes the director of a national police organization as saying it was pure coincidence:

"It was completely spontaneous," said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a national police group that organized calls on Oct. 11 and Nov. 4. Among the issues discussed: safety, traffic and the fierceness of demonstrations in each city.

"This was an attempt to get insight on what other departments were doing," he said.

Yup - purely coincidental:

Interim Oakland Police Chief Howard Jordan said he participated in a call organized by Wexler's group and has talked with officials in the New York police department's civil disturbance unit and high-ranking police officials in San Francisco.

And this:

Mayors of mid-sized and large cities held similar calls twice last week, one of which was organized by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams said the primary issue among the mayors was how to get a message to a movement that didn't have any clear leadership. "A lot of time was spent on how do you effectively communicate with a group that doesn't have a leader?" Adams said.

Some departments didn't have to rely on the conference calls. Like most police agencies, they are constantly exchanging information.

Los Angeles police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said his department gets updates as much as several times a day from various sources, including other law enforcement agencies and media outlets that are monitoring the Occupy protests.

Some of the information shared among law enforcement officials included how many people are involved in the protests, if there have been any arrests and if demonstrators are planning any events. Smith said he was unaware of other agencies' plans to evict protesters.

It's that lack of a clear leadership that freaks out these law enforcement agencies. Which leads to the most disturbing claim by Rick Ellis, of the Minneapolis Examiner:

Over the past ten days, more than a dozen cities have moved to evict "Occupy" protesters from city parks and other public spaces. As was the case in last night's move in New York City, each of the police actions shares a number of characteristics. And according to one Justice official, each of those actions was coordinated with help from Homeland Security, the FBI and other federal police agencies.

According to this official, in several recent conference calls and briefings, local police agencies were advised to seek a legal reason to evict residents of tent cities, focusing on zoning laws and existing curfew rules. Agencies were also advised to demonstrate a massive show of police force, including large numbers in riot gear. In particular, the FBI reportedly advised on press relations, with one presentation suggesting that any moves to evict protesters be coordinated for a time when the press was the least likely to be present.

Indeed, Wonkette has articulated best why this is dangerous:

Remember when people were freaking out over the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and all this other conveniently ready-to-go post-9/11 police state stuff, because it would obviously be just a matter of time before the whole apparatus was turned against non-Muslim Americans when they started getting complain-y about the social injustice and economic injustice and income inequality and endless recession and permanent unemployment? That day is now, and has been for some time.

And this from Yves Smith:

Martial law level restrictions were in place. Subways were shut down.Local residents were not allowed to leave their buildings. People were allowed into the area only if they showed ID with an address in the 'hood. Media access was limited to those with official press credentials, which is almost certainly a small minority of those who wanted to cover the crackdown (the Times' Media Decoder blog says that journalists are describing the tactics, as we did, as a media blackout). Moreover, reading the various news stories, it appears they were kept well away from the actual confrontation (for instance, the reported tear gassing of the Occupiers in what had been the kitchen, as well as separate accounts of the use of pepper spray and batons). News helicopters were forced to land. As of 10 AM, reader Wentworth reported that police helicopters were out in force buzzing lower Manhattan.

National coordination vitiates the notion that policing is responsive to and accountable to the governed. It is not hard to imagine that there was more that a little bit of, erm, help from the Feds. Police chief Ray Kelly has a tight relationship with the CIA and the FBI. Homeland Security has also trying to increase its influence over police forces in major cities. It is not hard to imagine it playing a role in this effort as well.

Frank would be quite dismayed at what took place here in New York City this week:

the raid on zuccotti park from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

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