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Cops Program

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Citizens' Oversight Projects (COPs) empowers the citizen to take control of a huge government that is seriously out of control. Even those responsible for understanding what these bodies are doing are overwhelmed by the sheer immensity of the problem. However, with citizen volunteers, we can turn an intractable problem into a manageable one.

Our oversight responsibility was well recognized as crucial to our democracy, and was originally called the "Council of Censors". Please see the section of the Pennsylvania constitution written by Benjamin Franklin: Council Of Censors

The framers of the 1776 Pennsylvania constitution did not trust solely to "a mere demarcation on parchment of the constitutional limits of the several departments of government" to protect the people against oppression and tyranny. They introduced a special organ of government for this purpose, called the council of censors. The censors were charged with the duties of inquiring whether the constitution had been preserved inviolate, and whether the government had performed their duties properly without assuming unconstitutional powers. They were also to inquire whether the public taxes had been justly levied and collected, in what manner they had been spent, and whether the laws had been duly executed. They were empowered to send for persons, papers, and records, to pass public censures, to order impeachments, and to recommend to the legislature the repeal of such laws as should appear to them to have been enacted contrary to the principles of the constitution. Furthermore, they were empowered to call by a two-thirds vote a constitutional convention to amend any article of the constitution which might be defective, explain such as might be thought not clearly expressed, and add such as might be necessary for the preservation of the rights and happiness of the people.

In essence, we now understand the genius of the framers and have re-instituted the censors in the form of COPs.

There are two categories of oversight projects
  • Govt Oversight - those that oversee specific governmental bodies. As a COPs panelist, you will become a fixture at the meetings of a particular board, council, or other body, or providing oversight to specific elected officials. Read Govt Oversight to learn how to find an appropriate governmental body to oversee.
  • Issue Oversight - those that oversee specific political issues or development projects, such as to oversee specific outsourced contracts, work that would normally be done by governmental institutions, but for some reason contracted out to the lowest bidder, or perhaps to a friend or campaign contributor, you know how it works.

In addition to those two Project Types, we also have Infrastructure Projects which deal with the logistics of organizing our work.

Since the start of COPs, we've found that in addition to providing oversight to specific governmental bodies, we wind up engaged in a number of projects. Each project gathers information and other activist citizens who want to help make important changes or to stop projects out of control.

COPs Projects

Create a new project here, use a name with mixed case.
  • Add Project: Topic Name:

Govt Oversight Projects

Project Description Parent Project Curator Status
California Energy Commission Oversight and coordination with this govt institution   Ray Lutz Active
California Legislature Track bills and provide oversight     Active
California Public Utilities Commission Oversight of the CPUC, which regulates for-profit orgs that provide energy, transportation, communication in CA   Ray Lutz Active
City of El Cajon Oversight of City of El Cajon and El Cajon City Council   Raymond Lutz Active
COPs Chapter San Diego East County Local Government Oversight Cops Chapters   Active
Court Operations Oversight Track Judicial Operations, Judges, etc.   Ray Lutz Active
CrowdWatch Crowd-sourced data collection and review Easy Voting, Election Audits, Election Integrity, Election Team, Snapshot Protocol, Snapshot Protocol Ray Lutz Inactive
Govt Info Map Establish standards for reporting information about govt organizations to allow a comprehensive "map" to be developed.     Active
Grossmont Healthcare District Board Oversight   Raymond Lutz Active
Grossmont Union High School District Oppose the sad story of a high school district taken over by religious radicals and left in disarray. Now, they've done it again.   Raymond Lutz Active
La Mesa Spring Valley School Board Oversight of board, and most recently, the banning of the President's address.   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Lakeside Fire Board Oversight of the Lakeside Fire Board   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Padre Dam Municipal Water District Oversight of this governmental body   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Police Dept Oversight General topic on Police Department Oversight   Ray Lutz Active
San Diego LAFCO Oversight of this governmental body   Raymond Lutz Active
San Diego Reinvestment Task Force This committee decides on how money that the city may have is reinvested. Bankers sit around the table. Oppty to get money moved from banks to local community banks.   Ray Lutz Active
Stieringer Employment Scam Grossmont Healthcare Board member James Stieringer resigned to slip into a $60K/year position he helped create. Grossmont Healthcare Board Raymond Lutz Closed
Unexpected Deaths at Grossmont Hospital After being cited by the California Medical review board, the community became aware that the District Board was unaware of these events, despite a clear expectation by the community that they stay perform hospital oversight. Grossmont Healthcare Board Raymond Lutz Closed

Issue Oversight Projects

Project Description Parent Project Curator Status
A29 San Onofre Protest Three Mile Island! Chernobyl! Fukushima! San Onofre? Shut Down San Onofre Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Closed
Aliso Blowout Shut down the Aliso Canyon gas blowout and find out how this was allowed to happen.   Ray Lutz Active
Audit Engine Full-ballot image auditing service Election Integrity Ray Lutz Hot
Ballot Access Lawsuit Lawsuit against the San Diego Registrar of Voters to Access Ballots as Public Records Election Integrity Ray Lutz Inactive
Blackwater In Soutwestern College SWC approved using BW shooting range in trade for on-campus conference room use. Blackwater Otay Raymond Lutz Closed
Blackwater-Xe at Los Coyotes Reservation Blackwater-Xe mercenary training camp at the Los Coyotes Reservation, near Warner Springs. Private Mercenaries   Closed
BlackwaterOtay Opposition to private mercenary training center in Otay Mesa, San Diego Private Mercenaries Raymond Lutz Closed
Blackwater Worldwide Considers the entire family of companies related to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Lodge Training Center. Private Mercenaries Raymond Lutz Closed
Border Security This topic includes discussion of the border fence, and the larger issue of border security and immigration reform.   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Budget and Taxation How to fund our government and make sure it is run efficiently.   Raymond Lutz Active
Campaign Finance Reform Limit those with money to buy elections. Election Integrity Raymond Lutz Active
Church - State Separation Asserts the doctrine of the separation of church and state. Constitutional Issues Raymond Lutz Active
Climate Change Investigation into the debate over anthropogenic climate change based on Greenhouse gasses. Energy Policy Raymond Lutz Active
Coalition to Decommission San Onofre Grassroots organizations joined as a party to the California PUC Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Inactive
Compensation Reform How to make sure govt workers are fairly compensated. Budget And Taxation Raymond Lutz Inactive
Constitutional Issues Project to collect all issues of constitutional nature   Ray Lutz Active
Covert Canyon A shooting range training area in East San Diego County, off Japatul Valley Rd and operated by Marc Halcon. Private Mercenaries Raymond Lutz Closed
Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Background and ideas for dealing with this disaster   Raymond Lutz Closed
Eagle Rock Training Center Blackwater-like training facility on Los Coyotes reservation near Warner Springs Private Mercenaries Raymond Lutz Closed
Earth Summit Sustainable Living Conference   Ray Lutz Active
East County Transitional Living Center Oversight of a proselytizing homeless living center   Ray Lutz Active
Easy Voting Project Fight Voter Suppression Election Integrity Susan Schneider Active
Election Audit Lawsuit Lawsuit against the San Diego Registrar of Voter regarding the incomplete audit in the June 2016 Primary Election Election Integrity   Inactive
Election Audits Gathering information about statistical and deterministic auditing approaches. Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
Election Data Harvesting for Nov 2018 Automated election data harvesting. Election Integrity Ray Lutz Hot
Election Equipment This project gathers information about election equipment Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
Election Integrity Comprises all election integrity issues   Raymond Lutz Hot
Election Oversight, June 2016 Review of the primary election in California Election Integrity Ray Lutz Inactive
Election Oversight Team Status and information about our election oversight team Election Integrity Ray Lutz Hot
Encroachment Law Work related to SDMC54.0110, AKA Encroachment Law Occupy San Diego Ray Lutz Inactive
EnergyPolicy Consideration of various approaches to solving fossil fuel addiction.   Raymond Lutz Active
Freedom of Speech Various efforts to defend our First Amendment rights. Constitutional Issues Ray Lutz Active
GMO Open Forum Discuss and understand implications of GMO technology   Ray Lutz Active
Healthcare Policy Track and understand the implications of various healthcare policy options   Ray Lutz Active
HELMS Campaign Targets local jurisdictions with intent of getting resolution in support of Moving the Waste per settlement action plan and support HELMS petition at NRC Helms Proposal, Settlement To Move San Onofre Waste Ray Lutz Active
HELMS Proposal Proposal realistic plan for safer nuclear waste storage on the surface using extended-life over casks. Helms Proposal, Nuclear Waste Ray Lutz Hot
Israeli Palestinian Conflict Oversight and discussion of perhaps the most divisive conflict on earth.   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Local Politics East County Politics that is not covered by another project   Raymond Lutz Active
M11 Fukushima Remembered Rally Rally/Protest on First Anniversary of Fukushima disaster at San Onofre Nuclear generating Station (SONGS) Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Closed
Manual Tally Issues 1% Manual Tally is required for certification of elections but are either not completed or are insufficient to report vote-substitution errors. SERIOUS PROBLEMS DETECTED IN SAN DIEGO! -- The result of this project was the creation of the Snapshot Protocol project Election Integrity Raymond Lutz Closed
March Against Monsanto Planning for annual march in Balboa Park Gmo Open Forum Ray Lutz Active
Net Neutrality Concerns keeping the Internet open and free to all ideas.   Raymond Lutz Active
Investigate 9-11 Inquiry into the truth surrounding the events of 9-11-2001   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy Energy Policy Raymond Lutz Active
Nuclear Waste How to deal with ever-increasing deadly nuclear waste. Nuclear Energy Ray Lutz Active
One Gun Initiative One Citizen, One Vote, One Gun Constitutional Issues Ray Lutz Active
Open Ballot Initiative Describes a method of election canvass processing that uses high-speed electronic equipment but is not subject to hacking vulnerabilities Election Integrity Raymond Lutz Hot
Park Station at La Mesa Crossroads Huge mixed-use project at El Cajon Blvd and Baltimore Dr.   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Pension Reform Considers how to bring public employee pensions under control Budget And Taxation Raymond Lutz Active
Private Mercenaries Considers the rise of private mercenary firms and warfare training camps. War Profiteering Raymond Lutz Active
Procinctu Group Opposition to development of "The Ranch", a mercenary training center in Riverside County Private Mercenaries Ann Weston Closed
Rock Church ECPAC Takeover City of El Cajon entertaining a long-term lease with Rock Church for ECPAC Save ECPAC Ray Lutz Inactive
San Bruno Explosion -- PG&E Gas Line Explosion in 2010 Documents and information related to the PG&E Gas Line Explosion in 2010   Ray Lutz Inactive
San Diego County Canvass Procedure Detailed written procedures for the canvass in San Diego County Election Integrity Raymond Lutz Inactive
San Onofre Canister Drop Incident Review of the August 3, 2019 near-drop of 50-ton canister 18 ft. Stop Nuke Dump Ray Lutz Active
San Onofre License Amendment Intervention Processing of Petition to Intervene and Request for Hearing regarding License Amendment Request for San Onofre Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Closed
San Onofre Settlement Federal Case Complaint by Citizens Oversight et al vs. CPUC on San Onofre Settlement Shut San Onofre, Stop The Unfair Settlement Ray Lutz Inactive
Save ECPAC - East County Performing Arts Center Tracking of management of ECPAC   Raymond Lutz Inactive
Scanner Tape Review Our attempt to audit the elections process in San DIego County regarding Diebold scanner tapes. Election Integrity Raymond Lutz Closed
Seals at Children's Pool Seals vs. human use of Children's Pool area in La Jolla   Ray Lutz Inactive
Settlement Oversight Panel Advisory Panel to provide oversight over the San Onofre nuclear waste settlement Stop Nuke Dump Ray Lutz Active
Settlement to Move San Onofre Waste Citizens Oversight sued the Coastal Commission regarding approval of the permit to allow the Nuclear Waste Storage on the Beach and a Settlement Resulted. This Project tracks and follows that settlement. Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste, Stop Nuke Dump   Active
Shut San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Objective is permanent decommissioning of SONGS Nuclear Energy Ray Lutz Active
Shutdown Diablo Canyon Nuclear Station Goal is permanent shut down of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear Energy Ray Lutz Active
SnapDragon Inappropriate change of stadium name in San Diego; Mayor Jerry Sanders committed felony embezzlement   Ray Lutz Closed
Snapshot Protocol Uses a snapshot of the election and compares it with the one-percent manual tally. Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
Stop ALEC Fest Event near the ALEC national conference.   Ray Lutz Closed
Stop Nuke Dump Move the San Onofre waste to a better location (& Pendleton Option) Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Hot
Stop the Unfair San Onofre Settlement The utilities are pushing for a quick $3.3B settlement that is unfair to ratepayers Shut San Onofre Ray Lutz Inactive
SunrisePowerlink Project to oppose the installation of the Sunrise Powerlink Energy Policy Raymond Lutz Closed
Vote-by-Mail voting (VBM) Review of all the concerns around VBM voting and processing Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
Voter Registration Information about how to increase voter registration Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
Voting Privacy Deals with anonymity of the ballot and allowing voters to vote privately Election Integrity Ray Lutz Active
War Profiteering Explores the problem with war-for-profit   Raymond Lutz Active
Water Fluoridation Is Water Fluoridation safe and effective?   Raymond Lutz Active
WindZero Mercenary-style trainging camp just east of San Diego County in Ocotillo/Nomirage. Private Mercenaries   Closed

Infrastructure Projects

Project Description Parent Project Curator Status
Cops Program Parent project to all COPs projects.   Raymond Lutz Active
COPs Resources Compilation of resources and related information useful to COPs participants. COPs Program Raymond Lutz Active
Cops Chapters Local Government working groups     Active
COPs Fundraising Fundraising letters, pleas, etc.   Ray Lutz Active
CopsWiki Architecture description and Tutorials of the Cops Wiki.org collboration Platform COPs Program Ray Lutz Active
Project Anatomy A "project of projects" -- how we manage and organize COPs projects on this site. COPs Program Raymond Lutz Active

Articles and Media (marked COPs Program): (Add | All Media)

Number of topics: 55

COPs Program Project Infrastructure

Comments

Project Form edit

Project Name Cops Program
Project Description Parent project to all COPs projects.
Project Founder Raymond Lutz
Project Curator Raymond Lutz
Project Type Infrastructure Project
Project Parents
Related Keywords
Project Status Active
Thumbnail Link
Forum Link
List Serve Topic
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
0113_calaware_Public_Access_to_Law_Enforcement_Information_Audit_Report.pdfpdf 0113_calaware_Public_Access_to_Law_Enforcement_Information_Audit_Report.pdf manage 85 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz Calaware law enforcemetn audit report
COPSBrochure.pdfpdf COPSBrochure.pdf manage 1 MB 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz COPs Brochure. Print and distribute!
COPs_Proposal_V2.rtfrtf COPs_Proposal_V2.rtf manage 50 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz COPS Proposal
NewsRelease1-06-07-FINAL.docdoc NewsRelease1-06-07-FINAL.doc manage 94 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz News Release: COPS to Police Local Govt.
NewsRelease1-06-07-FINAL.pdfpdf NewsRelease1-06-07-FINAL.pdf manage 90 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz  
PanelistQuestionnaire.docdoc PanelistQuestionnaire.doc manage 92 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz Panelist Application / Questionnaire
PanelistQuestionnaire.pdfpdf PanelistQuestionnaire.pdf manage 70 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz Panelist Application / Questionnaire (PDF)
Top10_FirstAmendment.pdfpdf Top10_FirstAmendment.pdf manage 193 K 26 Jun 2014 - 21:23 Raymond Lutz Top ten points on First Amendment rights
Topic revision: r51 - 12 Mar 2018, RaymondLutz
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