A Detroit Free Press investigation suggests the Detroit Police Department has been conducting widespread surveillance of hundreds of people involved in protests for several years.
The surveillance came to light after the suspension of an officer who allegedly tracked the social media posts of an Israel-Gaza war protester. The officer subsequently filed a lawsuit against the police department.
The Free Press report says the surveillance includes many people who apparently committed no crime.
Dan Korobkin is legal director of the ACLU of Michigan. "Law enforcement really has no business using public resources and personnel to collect information over social media — or otherwise — about people who are not reasonably suspected of serious and significant criminal activity," he said.
Korobkin said such behavior by police can have a chilling effect on people's civil liberties.
"If people thought or knew in advance that the law enforcement was going to do this, they would be less likely to speak freely, travel freely, live their lives the way that everyone should be able to live," he said.
The Detroit Police Department sent the following statement in response to the Free Press article.
"Chief White stands by his statement that the Detroit Police Department does not surveil people who are not accused of violating the law. Furthermore, while policy permits members to search for and examine social media information within the public domain, no member is permitted to collect or maintain information on individuals based solely on conduct protected under the First Amendment.
If the investigation into Lieutenant Cole and the Mobile Field Force determines that this policy was violated, those members responsible for the violations will be held accountable. Chief White makes no apologies for suspending Lieutenant Cole for engaging in bias-based policing.
We believe that the actions of this officer threaten the safety and legitimacy of the more than 2,600 Detroit Police officers who put their lives on the line every day."
