Assata’s Daughters came up with the cop watch after an incident in 2018. On Halloween, some high school students from the neighborhoods of Kenwood and Woodlawn had been egging and toilet-papering property in the wealthier Hyde Park neighborhood when they were confronted by the police. CPD officers arrested many of the teenagers. The following year, members of Assata’s Daughters went to the streets to monitor the police. The cop watchers would keep their distance but try to deescalate if a situation became volatile. If there was an arrest, they were prepared to film aggressive police officers on their phones. Some members of Care Not Cops came out to help them, including Olivia. She said that it was a particularly scary experience for her, noting that filming the officers did not make them more friendly.
“Cops don't care. They're shoving everyone back. It was like five, six, seven cops on this like just one kid and they're all pinning him down to the floor.”
— Olivia Lee, organizer, Care Not Cops