News

San Francisco Cops Allegedly Taking DJ Equipment

9:12 p.m. · November 19, 2009 · by Chris Bosman

Over the past six months, San Francisco DJs have been claiming that their equipment has been seized by police in raids on DJ parties. Even bystanders at the events have had their DJ equipment, such as laptops, seized. The raids and seizures are apparently due to a lack of proper permits for these events, though the claiming and holding of property, reportedly up to three months in some cases, seems suspect. In one case, a benefit for a sculptor was broken up by the police, and laptops, mixers, and CD players were all taken, though the police apparently gave no reason for their presence. No arrests have been made in conjunction with the holding of this property.

San Francisco's Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group concerned with protecting privacy in regards to computers and the Internet, is taking on the case of DJs Justin Credible and Matthew Higgins. Both had their laptops taken by the SFPD, neither were charged with any crime, and both have yet to return their laptops. EFF's civil liberties director Jennifer Granick says that taking property under those circumstances is not legal. The SFPD, meanwhile, has said that the property has been taken into custody as evidence regarding these illegal parties. They also say that arrests do not have to be made for the seizure of property.

Either way, the SFPD's crackdown on improperly permitted DJ parties seems to be eroding a way at the lifeblood of DJs who play these parties and at a vibrant local community that does not seem to be perpetrating any other crimes. The fact that none of these raids have turned up any other wrongdoing makes the whole slew of seizures just about incomprehensible. [SF Weekly]