During Episode 16 of “Deprogram”, Lorenzo and Niko were joined by Elisabeth Epps, an activist from Denver who spoke out about police intimidation tactics that she and others have recently experienced.

The Denver Police Department is no stranger when it comes to controversial policing tactics and since Unicorn Riot’s inception in late Spring 2015, we’ve been there to document some of these cases. In Episode 7 of “Deprogram” we spoke with Alex Landau about his personal realities around police brutality from the Denver police and on July 20th of 2015, a Unicorn Riot producer was targeted for filming a protest, violently arrested, and then visited by the Denver police a month later.

With the spotlight shone on the Denver Police Department these last few years over the excessive violence that citizens have been faced with by the hands of the police, most notably with the recent killing of Jessie Hernandez and Paul Castaway, the community in Denver has been organizing around trying to put an end to police terror.

In return, the Denver Police Department has been “systematically targeting and arresting those actively involved in this organizing” says an article on Defend Denver’s website.

Elisabeth Epps, who was a participant in the July 20th protest against the police has since been visited by the Denver police. When we interviewed Elisabeth, she spoke about how at the protest on July 20th, she saw and recorded the Denver police walking around with a type of “lookbook” with “yearbook style size photos” of suspected organizers of the protest, how the police stole her signs, the intimidation she has received from the police and how she’s attempting to heal from it.

In the first few weeks of August 2015, Elisabeth’s residence was visited by the police, not once, but twice; two nights in a row! They weren’t allowed inside her house, they didn’t respond when asked if they had a warrant, and they left both times. She stated that after the second visit they sat outside her house for approximately 5 minutes, which as she says “is an eternity when you’re watching armed men sit outside your house…it was terrifying, it was disruptive for my son, and I don’t want to ever experience it again.”

“I don’t like to think that its attached to activist activities, but it’s hard to imagine how its not…I do think that it is a conscious choice for them to attempt to repress organizing.”

Elisabeth spoke in real terms about why she felt she was targeted, saying “I don’t like to think its attached to activist activities, but it’s hard to imagine how its not…I do think that it is a conscious choice for them to attempt to repress organizing.” She touched on the emotions and feelings that her and her son had after the visit and how initially she didn’t want to come out and speak about the police visiting her. She later figured that the way to fight back would be to not let this deter her.

“The very act of getting together for these actions and planning these actions is a support group in itself…It’s very therapeutic to be surrounded by people who have experienced this.”

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) can come in a variety of forms from a variety of experiences. PTSD in activist work is an ongoing reality and one that can “bubble up” as Lorenzo said before Elisabeth agreed and stated “I didn’t realize the impact that my past interactions with police had on me”. She then spoke about what she is doing to heal herself and pointed at organizing as a tool to help with that; “The very act of getting together for these actions and planning these actions is a support group in itself…It’s very therapeutic to be surrounded by people who have experienced this.”

As Denver police don’t seem to be ceasing on their negative interactions with the community that they are set out to ‘protect and serve’, the community doesn’t seem to be ceasing in their efforts to organize and call attention to the abuses.

Elisabeth’s story is an important one to hear. For the full interview, please watch video above.