After George Floyd’s murder, police built a surveillance machine in Minnesota
technologyreview.com
technologyreview.com
It seems obvious. Which probably means I'm missing something. Or it could just be that the police apparatus is so deeply embedded into the state political system already that it's not possible to put a check on their power. Although some US states have citizen initiatives, so we could force the issue. But then again, many citizens like a strong, unaccountable police force, so that is hardly a guarantee of success.
> many citizens like a strong, unaccountable police force
Indeed.
How would you police these people? They would be like diplomats, only without a home country to keep them in line.
And like you said, states rights and all that, it might be outside the Constitutional powers of the federal government to actually do this. On the bright side, I suppose, getting at least one state to build a model of a working checks & balance system on police is a lot easier than making it happen federally.
Clearly there are details that a policy expert would have to work out, I'm just a rando on the 'net philosophizing about how we as a society can stop the slide into a police state and preserve a healthy democracy.
Maintaining a liberal democracy seems hard, like it's an unstable creation that can only be sustained through deliberate effort.
The Marechaussee are also involved with other police duties such as fighting organized crime and riot control. NL police doesn't have SWAT teams like in the US, they would be part of the military hierarchy, not the police hierarchy.
The military. "I feared for my life" just doesn’t have the same ring to them.
However, according to emails obtained and reviewed as part of our investigation, the operation does appear to be actively ongoing [..] as “OSN 2.0”
This whitewashing of illegal/unethical activities by simply renaming them is so common, it must have a name?
Resuming this fundamental issue to a per-basis case normalizes it to the point where people only care given certain circumstances, which is why the government keeps getting await with it.(terrorism, protect the children, police violence, etc.)
Otherwise how is this catch-22 relevant to the events surrounding George Floyd's murder and the surveillance measures established in response to the protests?
> Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota have been carrying out a secretive, long-running surveillance program targeting civil rights activists and journalists in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Run under a consortium known as Operation Safety Net, the program was set up a year ago, ostensibly to maintain public order as Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin went on trial for Floyd’s murder.
Culturally we need to decide what our priorities are: do we sacrifice privacy and freedom for the appearance of safety or do we accept less promises of safety for more freedom and privacy.
You're right, we can't have it both ways.
I agree with you. I would rather the police have a principaled stand for freedom and privacy, and not murder people. Then if something big happens, as GP opined, we as a society need to not crucify them. The police are not and should not be a guarantee that bad things won't happen. We should hold them accountantable for what they do, not hold them responsible for preventing all evils.
I perceive these programs only exist now _because_ protests that have turned into destructive mobs and previously leaders on the fence (in private) now are being persuaded to take the only action they can, secret programs.
Social justice movements are their own worst enemy. We all want change, but when a leaderless group of people make too many people nervous about the randomness of the results they achieve, you get these kinds of results from the government.
There's no objectively "winning" hand here. Governments are always going to try to surveil and subvert protests and protestors. Peaceful or otherwise. Thinking that this is a new phenomenon seems ahistorical.
With enough political will, anything is possible. Albeit very slowly and painfully.
This is basically because the government involved were willing to anything other than actually prosecute Derek Chauvin. As soon as it got to actual court there was no need for further protests on behalf of George Floyd. It is shameful that it took that much street protest to get the government to do something that it should have done anyway.
If it weren't for Black protesters and BLM "making people nervous" and forcing them to actually pay attention, George Floyd's killers would probably have commendations now, and the racist narratives that defended his murder would be accepted as status quo truth. Progressive change never happens when the powers who govern the status quo are allowed to remain comfortable.