San Diego Sheriff’s Department sends not-so-anonymous hate mail to activists

The toxic atmosphere between San Diego law enforcement and the activists looking to hold police accountable for unjust and illegal actions took another hit Wednesday, as an organization received a threatening email that appears to come from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

United Against Police Terror San Diego (UAPTSD) received an email through the contact page of their website at 6:19 PST on September 16. Posted in ALL CAPS, the email ridiculed UAPTSD and their mission. The sender praised gang injunctions and referred to protestors in places like Ferguson as “animals.” They drew a line between activists and “the real citezens [sic] of this county and the nation” who “work hard” and “dont [sic] accept government welfare”. The email ends by stating “the good people of this county and country will always prevail over scum like you. Good luck. Your [sic] going to need it.”

The email is unsigned, and comes from the address “SISCKOKID1560@gmail.com”. It is clear that the individual believed their hate mail to be anonymous.

However, email sent through the UAPTSD website contact page logs the IP address of the sender. Using a IP lookup service, the email seems to come from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department- in particular the Communication Center located at 5555 Overland Ave, in Building 12.

This is corroborated with the text of the email itself- the author uses “county” again and again rather than “city” or “state”, indicating an origin within county law enforcement.

Hatred and juvenility from San Diego law enforcement organizations is nothing new. This email is the product of a culture rooted in racism and inability to tolerate dissent. When the author separates protestors from “real citezens [sic]”, it makes sense why San Diego police treat some people with dignity and others as lesser beings. This email also emerged from a facility paid for by residents of the county, reinforcing the activist claim that more police funding doesn’t lead to safer societies. It’s not just the weapons and technology that’s been militarized, it’s the wartime outlook that divides everyone into allies or enemies.

The Guardian lists 174 unarmed people killed by police in the United States so far in 2015. That’s only the tip of a much larger system of violence, profiling, detention. A county law enforcement official calling those that want justice “scum” is not one bad apple. These people emerge from a rotten system, with a thousand different symptoms. Using a police network to threaten activists is just one.

There will be a press conference about this on Tuesday, September 22 at noon. Updates about the precise location and other info will be at the Facebook event page here.

Author: AJM

Writer, sociologist, Unitarian Universalist. View all posts by AJM