KPLU Local News
(2010-04-26)
Listen Now:
null
UW Police officer Tanesha van Leuven,(on right) with other officers on campus.
University of Washington
The University of Washington has acknowledged its police department recently spied on a student group. But the University now says the action was inappropriate and shouldn't happen again.
On April 8th, University of Washington graduate student Cindi Dorn attended a meeting to talk about a campus strike being planned for May by the UW Student Worker Coalition. The meeting was widely advertised, so she didn't think twice when a woman showed up she didn't know.
The woman, who introduced herself as Tani and said she was an alumni sympathetic to union issues, was actually Officer Tanesha van Leuven of the University of Washington Police Department.
Cindi Dorn and other members of the UW Student Worker Coalition are outraged that the UW police infiltrated their meeting.
"You know, impersonating someone who was interested in the cause as a way of trying to gather information," Dorn said.
The University police aren't talking about the incident, referring all questions to higher ups on campus. University spokesman Norm Arkans, a VP on campus, says the spying by police was not condoned.
"It's not the way that the University relates to its students. We've spoken to the police department about it and we understand now that this sort of behavior is not acceptable here," he said.
Arkans says the proper action would have been for police to ask students directly about their plans. He says there will not be any disciplinary action against the police officers involved.
© Copyright 2012, KPLU
