<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/08/revealed-los-angeles-police-officers-gathering-social-media>
The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) has directed its officers to collect
the social media information of every civilian they interview, including
individuals who are not arrested or accused of a crime, according to records
shared with the Guardian.
A lawsuit charges that the Rodeo Drive task force has been stopping and
arresting Black people without cause.
Copies of the “field interview cards” that police complete when they question
civilians reveal that LAPD officers are instructed to record a civilian’s
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media accounts, alongside basic
biographical information. An internal memo further shows that the police chief,
Michel Moore, told employees that it was critical to collect the data for use
in “investigations, arrests, and prosecutions”, and warned that supervisors
would review cards to ensure they were complete.
The documents, which were obtained by the not-for-profit organization the
Brennan Center for Justice, have raised concerns about civil liberties and the
potential for mass surveillance of civilians without justification.
“There are real dangers about police having all of this social media
identifying information at their fingertips,” said Rachel Levinson-Waldman, a
deputy director at the Brennan Center, noting that the information was probably
stored in a database that could be used for a wide range of purposes.
The Brennan Center conducted a review of 40 other police agencies in the US and
was unable to find another department that required social media collection on
interview cards (though many have not publicly disclosed copies of the cards).
The organization also obtained records about the LAPD’s social media
surveillance technologies, which have raised questions about the monitoring of
activist groups including Black Lives Matter.
[...]
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