An anti-crime taskforce operating in Memphis has been accused of targeting community observers with intimidation and excessive force. The ACLU of Louisiana alleges agents retaliated against people trying to monitor the federal taskforce’s activity, including tailing cars, surveilling homes, and falsely arresting an observer. A lawsuit was filed against Tennessee state and federal officials administering the initiative. Declarations from six community observers describe tactics such as bumper-riding in unmarked vehicles, pre-textual traffic stops, and an arbitrary arrest. The taskforce began last September under Tennessee Governor Bill Lee after an executive order by Donald Trump citing high violent crime in Memphis, with more than 2,000 state and federal police officers deployed. The U.S. Marshals Service declined to comment on the allegations.
"The ACLU of Louisiana alleges that officials have tailed cars, surveilled homes and even falsely arrested a community observer. The ACLU filed a lawsuit this month against Tennessee state and federal officials administering the anti-crime initiative. Additional declarations filed on Thursday by six community observers detail cowboy tactics they say have been used in recent months, from bumper-riding their cars in unmarked vehicles and pre-textual traffic stops to an arbitrary arrest."
"Agents have been retaliating against, intimidating, and harassing observers attempting to monitor the federal taskforce's activity, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana. The US marshals service declined to comment on the ACLU's allegations that agents and officers have targeted activists attempting to monitor the taskforce. Gadyaces S Serralta, director of the service, chairs the taskforce."
"Hunter Demster, lead litigant in the case, alleged that police officers surveilled his home, and the homes of other activists who had been trying to observe the taskforce's activities. He described an alleged incident in which a masked agent driving an unmarked black Ford Expedition sped up and swerved toward him while he was standing near a grassy median. The vehicle turned sharply as it approached, missing him by two inches, he said in his declaration."
"The taskforce was launched last September by Tennessee's Republican governor, Bill Lee, following an executive order by Trump, who cited the persistently high rate of violent crime in Memphis. Lee promptly activated the national guard and flooded his state's second-largest city with more than 2,000 state and federal police officers."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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