[Peace-discuss] Did AWARE make the list?

[C. G. Estabrook]

  Local Police Now Run Over 100 Spy Units Feds Bankroll
  Controversial Buildup of National Intelligence Network
  Mon May 01 2006 09:40:56 ET

Spurred by a half-billion dollars in federal funding since
9/11, local and state police have formed over 100 intelligence
units nationwide, according to an investigation by U.S. News &
World Report in its May 8, 2006 issue. The intel units now
reach into nearly every state, but with patchy oversight, a
half-dozen of them already have run into trouble for
questionable intelligence gathering, the magazine reports.

Millions more in federal funding have gone into building up
regional law enforcement databases to unprecedented levels,
adding to concern that guidelines on local intelligence
gathering are weak and out of date.

As controversy lingers over revelations of domestic spying by
the federal government, little attention has focused on the
role of state and local authorities, who once ran dozens of
now-discredited “Red Squads.” Abuses by police intelligence
units in the 1960s and ‘70s sparked over 30 lawsuits that
resulted in most of them being disbanded or sharply curtailed.
Civil liberties watchdogs warn that current efforts may end up
repeating mistakes of the past.

The U.S. News investigation included over a hundred interviews
with police intelligence officers, homeland security
officials, and privacy experts. Among the magazine’s findings:

Since 9/11, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland
Security have poured over $500 million into building up local
and state police intelligence operations, according to grant
data obtained from Homeland Security officials.

To qualify for federal homeland security grants, states were
told to assemble lists of “potential threat elements” –
individuals or groups suspected of possible terrorist
activity. In response, state authorities have come up with
thousands of loosely defined targets, ranging from genuine
terrorists to biker gangs and environmentalists. Texas alone
identified over 2,000 “potential” terrorists.

Guidelines on privacy and civil liberties have lagged far
behind the flow of federal money. After four years of pouring
homeland security funds into police departments, federal
officials finally released guidelines for local intelligence
operations last year, but the standards are voluntary and
being implemented slowly.

U.S. News has identified nearly a dozen cases in which city
and county police, in the name of homeland security, have
surveilled or harassed animal rights and anti-war protesters,
union activists – even library patrons surfing the web.

The resurgence of police intelligence is being accompanied by
a revolution in law enforcement computing. Rap sheets,
intelligence reports and public records are rapidly being
pooled into huge, networked databases. Much of this is a boon
to crime fighting, but privacy experts warn that the emerging
systems are wide open to abuse.

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