"The end of this political spying enhances the professionalism of the police department and is a victory for the First Amendment and for the civil liberties of all people in Denver," said Mark Silverstein, the ACLU's state legal director.
The deal won't take effect until approved by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Nottingham, but the city attorney said changes in police procedure outlined in the settlement have been in force since last October.
City Attorney J. Wallace Wortham said police will not collect information on protesters unless "there is reasonable suspicion of criminal activity."
If we want to win the war on terrorism, which means maintaining our freedoms, we can't just throw our freedoms out for the sake of security because then we've just lost what we're fighting for, said Stephen Nash, who was formally listed in the files.
Police have agreed to purge the files from their computers, and they plan to destroy them, but the ACLU wants the information handed over to the Colorado Historical Society.
The police chief will write letters to all those named in the files, saying that they have no information that justifies maintaining a file on them. Under the agreement, individuals and organizations named in the files can get copies of their files for 90 days. People named in the files were allowed to view their information last fall.
The ACLU and the mayor's office will conduct quarterly and annual audits.
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