Texas City Asks Feds for Social Media Spy Tool to Bust Underage Parties

FRISCO TX – The Frisco Police department is foaming at the mouth at the prospect of obtaining technology that will allow them to monitor its citizens behavior on social media platforms. Representatives of the police department are seeking the city councils approval to move forward with a plan to obtain federal monies to setup their own mini spy grid under the guise of public “safety.” Jason Jenkins, a member of FPD, outlines the supposed need for this monitoring technology in an application for the “Urban Area Security Initiative Grant,” offered by none of than the Department of Homeland Security…

This project will enhance the intelligence and operational capabilities of our NIMS Type 3 SWAT Team. With the award of this grant, we will enhance our tactical planning and response capabilities by using a location based social media monitoring tool that can assist our planning efforts and help make better informed decisions regarding ongoing or upcoming incidents or events. It will assist with gauging public sentiment during the planning stages of large scale public events such as major sporting events or concerts and can also help make informed decisions during actual emergency situations requiring immediate response such as tornadoes or other natural disasters, active shooter incidents, bombings, barricaded persons, hostage situations or other emergency type incidents. Regardless of the incident or event being monitored, public safety is the primary focus. This grant will allow us to retrieve and analyze publicly available data in real-time which will ultimately increase our effectiveness during times of crisis by increasing our situational awareness ultimately allowing us to better deploy resources which in turn could save on personnel costs and potentially save lives.

No government request for money would be complete without the prospect of saving lives now would it? I’m reminded of the famous Benjamen Franklin quote..

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Safety will always be the number one selling point to the public to undermine your basic right to privacy, freedom of movement, etc. But until one can see through the propaganda, and the rhetoric built on public waste and corruption, the problems we face will propitiate. However, sometimes government officials will tip their hand to their true motives, and it happens to hold true in Jenkins own words. When asked to explain the regional impact that the program will have on the community, Jenkins brags not about saving lives, but saving a group of local teenagers from hangovers…

Just recently, the Frisco Police Department received notification from an outside Law Enforcement agency regarding a very large scale underage party that had gotten out of hand. The other agency was made aware of this information through the use of a social media monitoring program.

I think we can see where this is going. Police are looking to sharpen their tool set of lazy police work– to add to their arsenal of license plate readers, red light cameras, laser radar and god knows what else they use to protect ourselves, from ourselves. A social media spy grid would empower police to look not for real crimes in progress, but for individuals who may be partaking in a non-violent, peaceful activity, which the state deems illegal. If you haven’t guessed, this technology will most likely be used to escalate the colossal failure known as the war on drugs. If police can pinpoint where a marijuana flower may be possessed and by whom, they can dispatch their federally granted military vehicles and SWAT team to violently apprehend and imprison the “suspect”.

The aforementioned proposal appears on the city councils “consent agenda,” which is typically reserved for “routine” or “non-controversial” topics. I plan to attend tomorrows meeting to speak in strong opposition of proposed social media drag net as this is all I know to do.

Grant Application Authorization by BrettSanders