A homeless advocacy group in downtown Los Angeles has filed suit against the City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department, Central City East Association, and others for violations of First Amendment and other civil rights.
LA CAN, the Los Angeles Community Action Network says downtown so-called purple-shirt security patrols are carrying out an anti-homeless agenda.

In 2011, LA CAN, Los Angeles Community Action Network, began organizing protests of Central City East Association and its private security patrols.

LA CAN says these walks, or security checks, promote CCEA's anti-homeless agenda. LA CAN supporters were known to use noisemakers, such as toy air horns, during these protests.

LA CAN is now accusing the LAPD, CCEA, and others of conspiracy and wrongful prosecution.  Becky Dennison, co-director of LA CAN, says they uncovered emails which show the two organizations were colluding.

LA CAN community organizer Deborah Burton was accused, and acquitted last summer, of seven counts of assault and battery for allegedly sounding a toy air horn directly in the ear of then CCEA director Estela Lopez at a protest in June 2011.

One of the attorney’s representing LA CAN is Barbara Schultz of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.  She says the LAPD had been targeting LA CAN even before they brought suit against Burton.

LA CAN, along with the ACLU of Southern California, filed suit in 2008 against the LAPD's Safer Cities Initiative. The organizations claimed the initiative was harrassing low-income and homeless residents of LA.  The LAPD eventually settled with a multi-million dollar financial pay out. 

The current lawsuit seeks to stop the LAPD’s criminalization of constitutionally protected activity and targeting of LA CAN and other community based organizations.

Follow Jasmine Broderick on Twitter @JazzyBroderick