Minneapolis officers spied on black people with fake social media accounts

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) has been using fake social media profiles to spy on black people. Police officers in the United States have historically had a less-than-friendly relationship with the black community due to unjust arrests and killings, so the revelation isn’t surprising.

Minneapolis police officers specifically target black people

A horrific report from the Minnesota Department of Human Rights revealed that MPD officers would make these fake social media profiles to surveil people of color. Unfortunately, even people who weren’t convicted of any crimes were being observed by the police due to their color.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the report also reveals that some of these officers pretended to be a member of the black community. Disguised as these members, they would criticize the NAACP or attend someone else’s birthday in a fairly creepy fashion.

Nine state and local groups actually formed a response program called Operation Safety Net, which worked closely with the FBI. Aside from the social media posing they also keep close ties with people of color who were part of racially charged rallies.

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Repercussions

Since the City of Minneapolis and MPD have violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act, some major changes are reportedly coming. Apparently, the Human Rights Department will work with Minnesota officials to develop a consent decree but we’ll see how far that takes them.

We hope some major changes are made since these blatant acts of racism are hard to justify to anyone. Only time will tell if any change is actually made but for the sake of the black community, we hope so.

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