Minneapolis Police Department Chief Brian O’Hara says there was no hacking involved with the fake accounts officers created to gather intel on Black organizations.
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights in response to outrage has released a statement clarifying that the police did not wiretap or hack Black people and organizations they targeted online during the George Floyd protests following its scathing report last year that shows the deep-seated racism within the MPD.
O’Hara also claimed the surveillance helps prevent violence
“Police do conduct undercover work, and this is just an extension of that idea into the technological space,” said O’Hara. “There’s no sort of breaking into and trying to interfere or post messages. None of that is happening now.”
The MDHR’s investigation began in June of 2020 and found the agency “surveilled” Black people and Black organizations they “targeted” online in an undercover operation by creating fake accounts on social media.
The accounts were used to spy on the Black community as well as Black organizations while ignoring the accounts of white supremacists, despite a Boogaloo Bois member shooting 13 rounds into the 3rd Precinct with an AK-47.
CBS Minnesota reports that Commissioner Rebecca Lucero is making it clear one year after the MDHR April 2022 report was issued that Minneapolis police did not hack or wiretap those spied on during the undercover operation. The MDHR website also made the distinction.
“With respect to MDHR’s Findings about MPD’s covert social media use, when MDHR described MPD as ‘surveilling’ individuals and groups through social media, MDHR did not use that term to indicate ‘hacking into’ accounts or private messaging systems or ‘wiretapping’ those individuals or groups,” says the website.
“What was meant by ‘surveillance’ was that MPD officers used covert social media accounts to ‘follow’ and ‘engage with’…
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