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Some local activists are shaking their heads with an "I told you so" smirk on their faces after learning of a news report showing that New York Police Department undercover detectives attended meetings of at least one Albuquerque group prior to the 2004 National GOP convention.

Which group or groups isn't clear in the New York Times' report Sunday about police documents detailing the yearlong investigation that took place in at least 15 U.S., Canadian and European cities in the year leading up to the September 2004 convention in New York City.

Detectives, the report says, were trying to prevent disruptions at the convention. The report, though, says that their note-taking included activities of peaceful meetings and plans.

Albuquerque activists say the officers were inappropriately spying on law-abiding citizens.

"It's offensive to me," said Maria Santelli, co-coordinator at the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, a resource agency and meeting space for community groups. "I'm not surprised, though."

Civil rights attorney Larry Kronen wasn't surprised, either.

"But nonetheless, I'm outraged," he said.

In the months preceding the convention, Kronen said he read of NYPD detectives on surveillance operations, but didn't think that would include Albuquerque.

He wants to know how much the Albuquerque Police Department was aware of the NYPD detectives.

Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said APD does not secretly monitor groups unless it is conducting a criminal investigation.

He said when APD officers travel to other cities, they generally alert the local police department. He said more research would be required to determine if APD was aware of NYPD's work here.

Still, some local activists took the Times report as vindication of their deeply rooted suspicion of law enforcement.

"It's common knowledge around activist culture. You always expect someone (police) in your group," said Julian Green, secretary for coordination of the anarchist group Autonomists for Democracy in Albuquerque.

It is such a common thought that rally or meeting leaders will occasionally extend a welcome to any surreptitious law enforcement in attendance.

At a January anti-war rally, Santelli took time to wave to police she saw perched on a hotel balcony. She believes they had cameras.

Like Green, she assumes most of the meetings she and fellow activists attend are "infiltrated" by police.

"We tell people that if there is something you don't want the feds or law enforcement agents to know, don't say it here," she said, joking lightly but meaning it.

The suspicion - especially when it is proved true by reports like the one in the Times - has a chilling effect on participation in meetings, rallies and protests, she said.

"We did lose volunteers and people active and willing to get out on the street," she said, noting a 2003 anti-war march that was dispersed by Albuquerque police.

March participants say the police were too forceful when they broke it up and more than a dozen, including Santelli, have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the department.

Kronen is one of the attorneys representing them in federal court. The case does not include surveillance allegations, and Kronen said he doesn't have any plans to amend the case or begin a new one based on the Times report.

He said he plans to meet with several groups to see if they want him to dig further into the Times report.

Meanwhile, Santelli said she hopes local activists won't be deterred.

First Amendment rights, she said, "are so important they wrote them down first. It (police surveillance) casts the shadow that you're doing something wrong, and that is not true."

According to the Times, the New York Police Department says it was not wrong in its surveillance action, following the laws that allow it under certain circumstances.

It is fighting a lawsuit by the New York Civil Liberties Union to have the documents released to the public, according to the Times.