The secret police: private security regularly sent Minnesota police misinformation about protestors

[LessAspin]

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There are 13 private security guards for every one police officer in downtown Minneapolis, but these groups are far less regulated than police departments.

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MIT Technology Review has not found evidence that Ruddock is a part of a radical antifascist political group. Minneapolis Police have not replied to our requests about antifascist activity in Uptown. In one email from September 2021 found in public documents, police do mention “local antifa/anarchists” in Minneapolis, though an investigation by the FBI in December 2020 found no evidence of “antifa-led riots” during the protests and unrest after George Floyd’s murder. Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office, said at the time, “We haven’t seen any trend of antifa folks who were involved here in the criminal activity or violence.”

Along with its accusations that Ruddock and others are members of antifa, the CRG report entitled “Initial Threat Assessment” contains a grab bag of questionable information about the threat of antifa extremist groups in the Minneapolis area. The report cites right-wing content creator Andy Ngo as a source and even questions the science of climate change.

Emails we reviewed from public records requests show that CRG sent at least eight reports to the Minneapolis Police Department from March to December 2021 about activities related to the area around Seven Points, as well as other properties its guards were patrolling. The group also sent over different versions of its reports to MPD, including a shorter “flash” report, which appears to include more real-time information about activity around Uptown, including surveillance footage of the garage. The reports often contained unreliable or unsubstantiated information.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/07/07/1055508/secret-police-private-security-group-minnesota-misinformation-protestors/

This is rich given that we know most of the violence is being perpetrated by right-wingers.

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[Martin68]

1. U.S. law enforcement is ripe for this kind of influence. It plays on their pre-existing bigotry and

results in severe injury and death for people of color. Trumpists have been quick to use this anti-BLM propaganda in their response to the Jan 6th insurrection. All of these threads need to be investigated and exposed.

[Blue Owl]

2. K&R for exposure