Zeroday 01100100011010010

On 4-20-2006 University officials closed Farrand Field from 12 Noon 
until 5 PM. The field was closed off with barricades, yellow jacketed 
"event staff" personnel and police officers.

Approximately 40 signs were posted on all sides of the field 
advising that the field was closed and that video and photographic 
survellience was going to be used on and around  the field that 
day. A photo of one of the signs is shown to the right.


Those individuals who are pictured below and on additional pages were 
photographed on  the field during the closure hours as posted on the signs. 

I think it should be documented that the above notice was NOT on their
webpage earlier in the day. Only when I checked back in the later evening
was it added to the page. I have to assume they received some bad press
over this move. Some background first:
April 20th is 4/20 in shorthand. The number 420 is explained
here to mean:

The term was shorthand for the time of day the group would meet, at the 
campus statue of Louis Pasteur, to smoke pot. Intent on developing their 
own discreet language, they made 420 code for a time to get high, and its 
use spread among members of an entire generation. 

Fast forward to 4/20/2006 (or rewind technically) and a group of students
decide to meet in a field to have a rally/smoke out. This is pretty common
on college campuses nationwide and it would seem that most just look the
other way. It is understandable since it is really difficult to imagine a stoner rally getting “out of control” in any way.
Questions I have for UCPD:
1) Why was the field shutdown in the first place?
It is peculiar that the area was closed specifically on 4/20 and only between noon and five which is when this rally was being held. Why didn’t the police intervene while they were smoking?

2) The sign (preserved below) states that surveillance is being used but where does it mention that all surveillance will get posted to the Internet?
The only real penalty mentioned here is being summoned to the office of judicial affairs?

3) Does the UCPD have any history of wrongful behavior?
My initial search found this article which describes a protest gone wrong.

Initially peaceful, the demonstration degenerated into a 
confrontation between protesters and CU-Boulder police 
officers. Three individuals were arrested following the 
incident, which included the use of chemical spray by both 
sides.

Chemical spray? How did the protest go from peaceful to chemical spray?

4) When did shame come back in vouge?
I remember as kids we always joked about things going on our permanent record. It’s even in a Pink Floyd song. Now it’s come true. The internet remembers EVERYTHING. Caching and file sharing technologies ensure that any piece of media published that is interesting will never go away. The UCPD has ruined the lives of all of these kids. There is now a very real limitation on the types of jobs that they can apply for. Wall Street? I’m sure it’s fine for them to work there. Any federal job? Not a chance.
Despite what I’ve heard from some in the IRC channels (who work for DHS) smoking pot is a federal crime. (as an aside Colorado is a decrim state according to politech which makes what these kids are doing, possession of a controlled substance of less then 1 oz, a misdemeanor at worst and likely an infraction. These photos will follow them forever and I will bet that they are already all over the net in various pages joking about pot smoking. Here’s the real punch line. Even if UCPD decides, or is ruled against, this was the wrong thing to do, they CAN NOT undo it now. There is no Ctrl-Z for internet publishing.