Maryland police surveillance run amok

Last July, the Washington Post reported that officers in Maryland State Police Homeland Security Division had been conducting surveillance on war protesters and death penalty opponents for over a year.

Organizational meetings, public forums, prison vigils, rallies outside the State House in Annapolis and e-mail group lists were infiltrated by police posing as peace activists and death penalty opponents, the records show. The surveillance continued even though the logs contained no reports of illegal activity and consistently indicated that the activists were not planning violent protests.

The records show that undercover agents collectively spent 288 hours on surveillance activities over 14 months from March 2005 until May 2006.

New information suggests the Maryland State Police surveillance was even more broad than what was reported in July, including surveillance of activists involved in human rights and the establishment of bike lanes in Maryland.

Intelligence officers created a voluminous file on Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling the group a “security threat” because of concerns that members would disrupt the circus. Angry consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase in 2006 were targeted. The DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, was designated a white supremacist group, without explanation.

One of the possible “crimes” in the file police opened on Amnesty International, a world-renowned human rights group: “civil rights.”

According to hundreds of pages of newly obtained police documents, the groups were swept into a broad surveillance operation that started in 2005 with routine preparations for the scheduled executions of two men on death row.

The surveillance ended with no arrests and no evidence of violent sedition. Instead, troopers are preparing to purge files and say they are expecting lawsuits.

...some observers say Sept. 11 opened the door. "No one was thinking this was al-Qaeda," said Stephen H. Sachs, a former U.S. attorney and state attorney general appointed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to review the case. "But 9/11 created an atmosphere where cutting corners was easier." (Link)

To date, no Maryland State Police officer involved in the surveillance has been fired or even disciplined.  In fact, one of the undercover officers has been promoted twice since the illegal surveillance became known.