Minimizing LEO Harassment at Gatherings

There are things that we can do to minimize the negative impact of LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) presence at gatherings and render them relatively impotent.

First off, every cop that sets foot anywhere in the gathering should have escorts. Escorted cops can't do much damage. However, it's very important that police escorts be done appropriately.  As with everything gathering related, we should have a minimum of three people. If you see someone walking alone with the cops, join in but only refer to each other by "sibling."  No names in front of the LEOs.

I'm sure there are many other ideas floating around, but as someone who has been spending a lot of time walking with cops over many, many years, here is my 2 cents. 

People escorting LEO should not interfere in their actions and keep a safe distance. Who safe is safe?  That varies by years generally.  If they are friendly, have a conversation with them. If not keep your distance. 

Someone should run ahead and yell six-up to warn our family that cops are coming up the trail.

Hopefully, someone has video equipment and is capturing the entire thing on tape, computer chips or whatever. You never know when a calm cop walk will blow up and the camera needs to be working before the blow up.

People doing escorts should not have any outstanding warrants or be carrying anything on their person that would be judged illegal by a court of law.  If you are high, it's not your turn. 

It helps if you have can display a non-confrontational demeanor and remember to walk like Ghandi or Robin Williams.

It's best to have three or more people doing this on each escort, but due to a lack of folks helping with cop watch these last few years, I've spent a lot of time on my own with 6 or 8 cops in the woods - definitely not a great situation and one I don't recommend unless you have a lot of practice under your belts.

If you can carry on a friendly low key conversation with any of the officers, that helps minimize tension.


If anything happens, video, write down details and if someone is arrested, make sure someone knows and will go after them to town and bail them out. If you don't know the person being arrested or their friends, go to INFO and post an announcement, let the INFO crew now and please announce it at main circle.

We all know how hard scouting is and access roads are both a blessing and a curse. They provide ease of access for disabled family and kitchens bringing in supplies in hand carts. Unfortunately they also
allow ease of access for the USFS LEOs.

As we don't know what this year's site will be, there's a couple of things we can do to minimize problems. Keep kitchens and camps off the road. Just cause a road goes through or near the sites, doesn't mean everyone needs to set up there. Explain to people before the gathering, at the front gate, at Welcome Home and when you see them setting up that the folks camped near the road or hanging out there are easy pickens for cops.

If you don't deal well with cops, then please don't. When someone yells six-up, just fade into the woods and let them pass. Engage in passive resistance.

OK Here's my pitch for middle aged + women. I'd love to have a tight crew willing to do cop walks together and even do it naked if we need to. Nothing like some nice cellulite and saggy breasts to take the fight out of the cops. I think middle aged + women make awesome cop walkers.The cops generally aren't threatened, we tend to be good at idle chit chat, and it's a great way to walk off those extra pounds.

Finally, cop watch is not an organized thing. If you see cops walking or driving and they are not being escorted, then tag you're it. If you get tired, try to recruit replacements before you drop out.

And my desperate plea. If someone walking with the cops taps you on the shoulder and asks you to run a message to someone, please take this seriously and do as you are asked - the person you keep out of jail might be your husband, wife, brother or daughter. We need to work together on this.