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Medford Police Continue Surveillance
on Activists After Pipeline's Cancellation
No Hint of FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force Involvement

While the community awaits the Portland Police Bureau (PPB)'s annual report on its limited interactions with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in January to learn what spying activity the PPB has been up to, activists in Medford have exposed ongoing surveillance by police in southern Oregon. It was previously revealed that the Portland Police supported public and private spying on activists whose work helped shut down construction of the Liquid Natural Gas pipeline planned in Jordan Cove (PPR #78). A November 8 article in the Intercept reveals that the Medford Police continued spying on the group Siskiyou Rising Tide as they moved their focus to other issues such as racial justice.

The group filed public records requests and found that the police were monitoring their activities, including through social media posts, and commenting on particular activists' participation in demonstrations, communicating with each other over email. The Intercept writes "the emails show a policing apparatus that treats even the most placid social justice activities -- like vigils and Juneteenth celebrations -- as sites of criminal threat."

The article notes how Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 181A.250 prohibits collection or maintenance of information on people's social, political and religious affiliations without evidence of criminal conduct. Medford officials defended the spying by saying the Facebook posts are public information. That may be, but what justification was there for reviewing and commenting on them?

There's no evidence that the Medford cops were sharing any of this information with the FBI, but the sheer breadth of their information collecting-- and lack of accountability for it-- is disturbing to say the least.

Mohammed Mohamud Loses Appeal Bid

Just in time for the 13th anniversary of when the FBI set up Somali teenager Mohammed Mohamud in a sting operation (PPR #52), the now-32-year-old Mohamud filed an appeal asking for his case to be thrown out. The judge who heard the original case admitted he had family members at Pioneer Courthouse Square the night the FBI made everyone think Mohamud was trying to blow it up (but it was an inert fake created by the FBI). The appeal was rejected (Oregonian, September 23). An article in the Portland Mercury 's special holiday print edition, released in November, notes that Mohamud has renounced violence and is teaching conflict resolution to fellow inmates in the federal prison in Minnesota where he might remain until 2040.

January, 2024
Also in PPR #91

Portland Copwatch
PO Box 42456
Portland, OR 97242
(503) 236-3065/ Incident Report Line (503) 321-5120
e-mail: copwatch@portlandcopwatch.org

Portland Copwatch is a grassroots, volunteer organization promoting police accountability through citizen action.

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