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Copwatch: the name conjures up street battles of yore, with proud and defiant demonstrators asserting their legal rights to lunky, baton-wielding police. 

Indeed, the Berkeley branch of Copwatch prides itself on being at the vanguard of several seminal battles against the forces of oppression – the fight, in 1991, to keep the Freebox in People’s Park, and the ongoing effort to keep pepper spray out of the hands of the Berkeley Police Department, to name just two. 

Berkeley Copwatch, which has been around for almost 12 years, is best known for showing up at the scene of an arrest to document the conduct of the police. 

But sometimes, of a Saturday morning, Copwatch just likes to sit down over coffee and bagels to discuss the particulars of the California Penal Code. 

Saturday morning’s “advanced training session” at Copwatch HQ played like a literary salon, with special guest Jason Cox of the National Lawyers Guild fielding questions on car searches, anti-gang law and the legality of photographing or videotaping police officers in action. 

The eight veteran Copwatchers who came to the training didn’t protest when the conversation with Cox wandered away from Copwatching proper. They were eager to understand the finer points of various infractions, misdemeanors and felonies, because such things were interesting in themselves. 

Andrea Prichett, who co-facilitated the training, wanted to know when a police officer had the right to ask someone for their identification. 

“Cops can always ask someone for their I.D.,” Cox said, “the question is when the cops can demand I.D.” 

Cox gave an example: a policeman pulls over a car for speeding. In theory, the policeman has the right to demand the driver’s I.D., but he may only ask for the passenger’s. 

However, the issue gets sticky if the policeman has a reasonable suspicion that there may be another crime connected to the car. The officer may smell marijuana, or see a gun underneath the driver’s seat. 

In that case, the cop may ask for the passenger’s identification as well. He may even detain the passenger. 

The situation would be quite differently if the cop had found the two people walking together down the street. In that case, he would have to have a reason to suspect the non-suspect – the “passenger” – of a crime. 

“There’s a whole automotive exception to the Constitution,” Cox said. 

What if the cops found two juveniles sitting on the street with a beer between them, Prichett wondered. Would the officer have to ascertain who the beer belonged to before asking for I.D.? 

Cox said that he would not. The situation was similar to that found in many drug busts. If police enter a home and find several people and several pound of marijuana, it may not be immediately clear who owns it. They may consider everyone in the house a suspect. 

“You can have what’s called ‘joint possession,’” Cox said. 

“Literally!” interjected Copwatcher Russ Bates, to much amusement. 

Much of Cox’s information that pertained directly to Copwatching had to do with how people could record the police in action.  

He said that photographing police was always legal, as long as they were in a public place and the photographer was not interfering with the arrest. 

Videotaping was something of a gray area, Cox said, because of the audio track. California law prohibits the recording of a conversation unless both parties give their consent. 

However, he noted, the law only applied when parties in a conversation had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Given that the policeman would be expected – even compelled – to give an account of a conversation made during an arrest, there should be no expectation of privacy. 

So, Cox concluded, Copwatchers videotaping an arrest should be on solid legal ground. 

Copwatcher Karin Hilton said that she was concerned about the other side of the equation – police videotaping political activists at rallies and demonstrations. Shouldn’t there be a law?  

“As best as I can figure out,” said Cox, “cops have as much a right to videotape you as you have to videotape them.” 

Aspiring Copwatchers are asked to attend a workshop on Feb. 6, from 7 to 10 p.m. at 2022 Blake St. For more information, call 548-0425.