The Secret Police: Inside a Shadowy Surveillance Machine in Minnesota
March 24, 2022 1:12 AM Subscribe
An investigation by MIT Technology Review reveals a sprawling, technologically sophisticated system of police surveillance targeting civil rights activists, protesters, and members of the press in Minnesota.
In early 2021 officials described the joint task force implemented by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies —dubbed Operation Safety Net (OSN)— as an effort to prepare for potential civil unrest during Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd. Later that year, following the trial’s conclusion, officials claimed the operation was “ramping down”.
Though undertaken by nonmilitary agencies using public funds, many aspects of OSN were kept hidden. Now, documents obtained via public records requests and interviews with state employees show OSN was expanded far beyond its publicly-stated scope and suggest that it has persisted in secret to this day.
Records show expansive use of tools to scour social media, track cell phones, and amass detailed images of people’s faces, regardless of whether the subjects were suspected of any wrongdoing.
part 1: Cops built a shadowy surveillance machine in Minnesota after George Floyd’s murder part 2: After protests around George Floyd’s murder ended, a police system for watching protesters kept going part 3: Inside the app Minnesota police used to collect data on journalists at protests
In early 2021 officials described the joint task force implemented by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies —dubbed Operation Safety Net (OSN)— as an effort to prepare for potential civil unrest during Derek Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd. Later that year, following the trial’s conclusion, officials claimed the operation was “ramping down”.
Though undertaken by nonmilitary agencies using public funds, many aspects of OSN were kept hidden. Now, documents obtained via public records requests and interviews with state employees show OSN was expanded far beyond its publicly-stated scope and suggest that it has persisted in secret to this day.
Records show expansive use of tools to scour social media, track cell phones, and amass detailed images of people’s faces, regardless of whether the subjects were suspected of any wrongdoing.
“Taken together, they reveal how advanced surveillance techniques and technologies employed by the state, sometimes in an extra-legal fashion, have changed the nature of protest in the United States, effectively bringing an end to Americans’ ability to exercise their First Amendment rights anonymously in public spaces.”
From their responses in the articles, it sounds like their "plausible deniability" approach is that the special operation is gone because that way of doing things has become a routine part of police operations and thus isn't special anymore.
posted by clawsoon at 4:45 AM on March 24, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 4:45 AM on March 24, 2022 [12 favorites]
Is there any municipality of any size that has successfully pared down their police state in the wake of Floyd?
“Successfully” implies actual attempt.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:43 AM on March 24, 2022 [11 favorites]
“Successfully” implies actual attempt.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:43 AM on March 24, 2022 [11 favorites]
Is there any municipality of any size that has successfully pared down their police state in the wake of Floyd?
In the real world? Not as far as I can tell.
In the minds of professional loudmouth internet arguers and their flock of idiocy? Minneapolis has no cops, crime runs rampant, and the city is still on fire somehow.
All this shit has been going on while the feckless mayor and his cronies are blatantly lying to the faces of the press, the community and local politicians. It's a total shitstorm and the main local newspaper can't remove their lips from the police's anus long enough to actually do their job.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
posted by Sphinx at 8:06 AM on March 24, 2022 [7 favorites]
In the real world? Not as far as I can tell.
In the minds of professional loudmouth internet arguers and their flock of idiocy? Minneapolis has no cops, crime runs rampant, and the city is still on fire somehow.
All this shit has been going on while the feckless mayor and his cronies are blatantly lying to the faces of the press, the community and local politicians. It's a total shitstorm and the main local newspaper can't remove their lips from the police's anus long enough to actually do their job.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me.
posted by Sphinx at 8:06 AM on March 24, 2022 [7 favorites]
Meanwhile, the city attorney is attacking news organizations to defend themselves* in a lawsuit from a journalist deliberately blinded by cops.
*intimidate
posted by zenzenobia at 8:41 AM on March 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
*intimidate
posted by zenzenobia at 8:41 AM on March 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
Is there any municipality of any size that has successfully pared down their police state in the wake of Floyd?
I don't think it's directly the result of the George Floyd incident, but Denver has implemented something they call the STAR program that sends a licensed behavioral health professional and a paramedic to problems involving mental health, drugs, or homelessness, instead of sending cops with guns.
posted by ambulocetus at 9:50 AM on March 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
I don't think it's directly the result of the George Floyd incident, but Denver has implemented something they call the STAR program that sends a licensed behavioral health professional and a paramedic to problems involving mental health, drugs, or homelessness, instead of sending cops with guns.
posted by ambulocetus at 9:50 AM on March 24, 2022 [8 favorites]
Grand Rapids, MI turned down a federal grant for ShotSpotter and got Cure Violence instead
posted by rebent at 11:52 AM on March 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by rebent at 11:52 AM on March 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
From the write-up's pull quote:
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:50 PM on March 24, 2022
"..effectively bringing an end to Americans’ ability to exercise their First Amendment rights anonymously in public spaces."I'm appalled by every step we take towards an automated surveillance state but I still have to ask: was anonymity in First Amendment expression ever really a thing that could be counted on by those who were challenging the state?
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:50 PM on March 24, 2022
Intrepid Response is a communication platform that offers “a geospatial solution with feature-rich live mapping” and the ability to “view all personnel, tagged assets and map markers in near real-time,” according to the Intrepid Networks’ website. Marketing materials boast that “next-generation situational awareness makes the Intrepid Response for FirstNet platform the ultimate resource for tactical coordination and front-line intelligence.” The application, which can be downloaded like any other smartphone app, offers real-time data sharing, a platform for coordination of multi-agency teams, “highly secure team communications” (including push-to-talk and instant messaging), and more.
[…]
Intrepid Response does not have any data sharing policies, [CEO Britt Kane] says
This is fine.
posted by nickmark at 3:35 PM on March 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
[…]
Intrepid Response does not have any data sharing policies, [CEO Britt Kane] says
This is fine.
posted by nickmark at 3:35 PM on March 24, 2022 [6 favorites]
was anonymity in First Amendment expression ever really a thing that could be counted on by those who were challenging the state?
If you have enough money, the Supreme Court absolutely has your back.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 3:55 PM on March 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
If you have enough money, the Supreme Court absolutely has your back.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 3:55 PM on March 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
So all the QAnon/antivax folks who've been screaming about tracking chips and their dwindling freedoms for the last several years are *all over this,* right?
Right?
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 2:27 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Right?
posted by palmcorder_yajna at 2:27 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Intrepid Response is a communication platform that offers “a geospatial solution with feature-rich live mapping”
Just to be clear, there ain't nothing special about "Intrepid Response". It's but one—and a bit player, at that—of a whole category of similar toolsuites, made by a variety of companies. Every big defense contractor has their own 'Situational Awareness' mobile app, generally tightly tied into some sort of bigger (and very expensive, natch) combat informatics "platform" that they would be happy to sell to your military and/or law enforcement agency.
Heck, the fact that they bought a shrink-wrapped solution from a nobody like Intrepid Response shows that they probably got sold a bill of goods. Almost all the big-vendor solutions are "golfware", designed to demo well and impress executives and officers who don't know better.
I mean, ooooh, you can put dots on a map and let me draw overlays. Neat. 2010 called, they want their pitch deck back. Secure text and PTT voice? C'mon. Do you even dystopia, bro? You're never going to make the big bucks with bush league shit like that. That's old and busted—go home and read some Jeremy Bentham and come back when you're ready to build a real panopticon.
You wanna win, you gotta lean in. How does your cute little app determine position? GPS? Of course it does. Some junior high student all hopped up on Howard Zinn and Mountain Dew Code Red is gonna fuck you up, man. $3 Alibaba GPS jammer, so much for that. And your backhaul? Cellular? Fuckin' civilian cellular? The civilian cellular someone's gonna Stingray with a $300 SDR? You should be embarrassed. Kiddie shit. Bet there's no APNT either. Someday someone's gonna spoof your position, draw a great big dong with your own location history. Hilarious.
You wanna keep up with the cool kids in late-stage capitalism, you gotta get good. Get some AI/ML in there. Nobody knows what it means, but it sounds expensive as fuck. Satellites. You gotta talk to satellites. Which satellites? Doesn't matter. Iridium? Fine. Now: tactical radios. Burst transmission. Type 1 crypto. That's the good shit. What? You didn't think being a fuckin' 21st century stormtrooper was going to be cheap, did you? Go seize some cash from some immigrants, that's what everyone does. Okay, now you can at least get into the good parties. Make sure you got a chip-scale atomic clock, nobody will take you seriously otherwise. You know how to talk to drones? You better learn. Drones are the cool kids, they got all this Federal money. They always bring the good shit. Hellfires.
Alright, that's enough to get started. But don't show your face in here again until you get your shit squared away. This is the military industrial complex, mkay? Not some shitass cop shop.
/s
posted by Kadin2048 at 3:05 PM on March 25, 2022 [8 favorites]
Just to be clear, there ain't nothing special about "Intrepid Response". It's but one—and a bit player, at that—of a whole category of similar toolsuites, made by a variety of companies. Every big defense contractor has their own 'Situational Awareness' mobile app, generally tightly tied into some sort of bigger (and very expensive, natch) combat informatics "platform" that they would be happy to sell to your military and/or law enforcement agency.
Heck, the fact that they bought a shrink-wrapped solution from a nobody like Intrepid Response shows that they probably got sold a bill of goods. Almost all the big-vendor solutions are "golfware", designed to demo well and impress executives and officers who don't know better.
I mean, ooooh, you can put dots on a map and let me draw overlays. Neat. 2010 called, they want their pitch deck back. Secure text and PTT voice? C'mon. Do you even dystopia, bro? You're never going to make the big bucks with bush league shit like that. That's old and busted—go home and read some Jeremy Bentham and come back when you're ready to build a real panopticon.
You wanna win, you gotta lean in. How does your cute little app determine position? GPS? Of course it does. Some junior high student all hopped up on Howard Zinn and Mountain Dew Code Red is gonna fuck you up, man. $3 Alibaba GPS jammer, so much for that. And your backhaul? Cellular? Fuckin' civilian cellular? The civilian cellular someone's gonna Stingray with a $300 SDR? You should be embarrassed. Kiddie shit. Bet there's no APNT either. Someday someone's gonna spoof your position, draw a great big dong with your own location history. Hilarious.
You wanna keep up with the cool kids in late-stage capitalism, you gotta get good. Get some AI/ML in there. Nobody knows what it means, but it sounds expensive as fuck. Satellites. You gotta talk to satellites. Which satellites? Doesn't matter. Iridium? Fine. Now: tactical radios. Burst transmission. Type 1 crypto. That's the good shit. What? You didn't think being a fuckin' 21st century stormtrooper was going to be cheap, did you? Go seize some cash from some immigrants, that's what everyone does. Okay, now you can at least get into the good parties. Make sure you got a chip-scale atomic clock, nobody will take you seriously otherwise. You know how to talk to drones? You better learn. Drones are the cool kids, they got all this Federal money. They always bring the good shit. Hellfires.
Alright, that's enough to get started. But don't show your face in here again until you get your shit squared away. This is the military industrial complex, mkay? Not some shitass cop shop.
/s
posted by Kadin2048 at 3:05 PM on March 25, 2022 [8 favorites]
Check out MarciaHoward38thStreet onTikTok for firsthand footage of drones, sabotage, attempted entrapment, harassment, and more.
posted by beckybakeroo at 11:13 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by beckybakeroo at 11:13 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Kadin2048, that is an awesome comment.
posted by JHarris at 8:43 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 8:43 PM on March 26, 2022 [1 favorite]
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