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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe secret police: Cops built a shadowy surveillance machine in MN after George Floyd's murder
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/03/03/1046676/police-surveillance-minnesota-george-floyd/Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have been carrying out a secretive, long-running surveillance program targeting civil rights activists and journalists in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Run under a consortium known as Operation Safety Net, the program was set up a year ago, ostensibly to maintain public order as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin went on trial for Floyds murder. But an investigation by MIT Technology Review reveals that the initiative expanded far beyond its publicly announced scope to include expansive use of tools to scour social media, track cell phones, and amass detailed images of peoples faces.
Documents obtained via public records requests show that the operation persisted long after Chauvins trial concluded. Whats more, they show that police used the extensive investigative powers theyd been afforded under the operation to monitor individuals who werent suspected of any crime.
MIT Technology Reviews investigation includes thousands of documents and more than two dozen interviews with Minnesota state employees, policing experts, and activists. Taken together, they paint a picture of a state operation intent on identifying participants through secretive surveillance operations. Though it was undertaken by nonmilitary governmental agencies using public funds, large swaths of its inner workings have gone undisclosed. We found evidence of a complex engine of surveillance tailor-made for keeping close tabs on protesters and sharing that information among local and federal agencies, regardless of whether the subjects were suspected of any wrongdoing.
Operation Safety Net (OSN) was announced in February 2021, a month before Chauvins trial was set to begin. At a press conference also attended by Hennepin County sheriff David Hutchinson, Medaria Arradondo, then Minneapoliss police chief, described the effort as a unified command that would enable law enforcement officials to mount a regional response in case protests turned violent.
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The secret police: Cops built a shadowy surveillance machine in MN after George Floyd's murder (Original Post)
WhiskeyGrinder
Mar 2022
OP
a kennedy
(29,673 posts)1. Does the Governor know about this?? WTH??
crickets
(25,981 posts)2. K&R for visibility.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,357 posts)3. Next-day kick.
ProfessorGAC
(65,076 posts)4. K&R For Its Importance