Minnesota police secretly surveilled protesters after George Floyd murder
Law enforcement agencies in Minnesota, under Operation Safety Net, secretly monitored protesters and journalists using facial recognition, social media scanning, and cell phone tracking after George Floyd's murder. The operation, which cost tens of millions of dollars, targeted individuals not suspected of any crime and persisted beyond the trial of Derek Chauvin. A class action lawsuit by the ACLU against the Minnesota State Patrol over journalist arrests was settled for $825,000. The US Department of Justice is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department for possible excessive force.
- Date it happened
- 2021-02-17
- Organisation involved
- Minnesota State Patrol (operating under Operation Safety Net)
- Product, system or model
- Facial recognition system (not named in article)
This incident was imported from technologyreview.com. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.