Last Friday, just after midnight, Occupy Wichita's Cop Watch Brigade went into action for the first time. The group gathered a block away from Doc Howard's, a local club that has seen repeated police violence targeting black youth in the community, and marched before starting a vigil at 1am. Some 25 people held signs - many of them read “Justice is NOT Blind. We are Watching” - as four individuals with cameras stood ready to record any incident of violence.

When the brigade arrived, police on horses were standing at the ready across from the club. Seven more police cars waited at 2nd and Mosley Street, with an eighth visible just a bit further south. On the club's outdoor porch some people gave cries of support for the newly inaugurated Cop Watch in Wichita, which has seen a stream of under-explained police violence and killings against its people - including five shooting deaths alone by the Wichita Police Department since last October.

“Everybody fears them a little bit, I fear them," said David Paxton, 38, who grew up in Wichita and was standing by as an observer. "The police harassment didn't just start this year. It's just that right now people are beginning to pay attention. I've been harassed by the police since I was eight years old. You ask anyone in their thirties, [the police] dropped tear gas on a block party, they went to people's backyards, they do whatever they want to do. I always felt like I was under martial law. I didn't feel free until I left.”

Around closing time, three police officers stationed themselves in front of the club as a police car blocked Mosley to prevent people from walking toward 2nd Street. More threateningly, cops on horses entered the crowd as it filtered out of the club; though they issued no order to disperse, the horsemen herded and shoved people, and one horse kicked a woman. Police arrested two women after a bar fight broke out on the street, but they never interacted with the Cop Watch which had formed into separate bands: one to record the cavalry herding the crowd, another to record police groups pushing people toward parking lots. Some chanted “No Justice! No Peace!” as others stood silently with signs, and once everyone in the crowd had safely reached their vehicles, the Cop Watch dispersed and its members went home.

The brigade has since announced that it will make Thursday nights a weekly event dubbed “Safe Night,” when the Cop Watch intends to not only protect but also educate citizens about their rights as it recruits more people to ensure against the excessive use of force by the Wichita Police Department. Composed of people from Occupy Wichita and family members of those affected by police violence, the brigade demonstrates how a community can make change -- and secure its own people's safety -- from the bottom up.