How Law Enforcement’s Invasive App Determines ‘Threat Level’ of Citizens


The good thing, however, is that Americans are beginning to wake up to these blatant invasions of our privacy and violations of our liberties. The town of Fresno, California, has seen wide outcry over their department’s use of the controversial application, with even city officials pressing back against it’s use. One can only hope more Americans speak out and stop Beware dead in it’s tracks.

Councilman Clinton J. Olivier, a libertarian-leaning Republican, said Beware was like something out of a dystopian science fiction novel and asked Fresno Chief of Police Jerry Dyer a simple question: “Could you run my threat level now?”

Dyer agreed. The scan returned Olivier as a green, but his home came back as a yellow, possibly because of someone who previously lived at his address, a police official said.

‘Even though it’s not me that’s the yellow guy, your officers are going to treat whoever comes out of that house in his boxer shorts as the yellow guy,’ Olivier said. ‘That may not be fair to me.’

The Fresno police department, along with their use of Beware, has dozens of monitors plastering the walls of their threat center that display feeds from the hundreds of cameras police have placed across the city. If those cameras don’t show enough, the police can then tap into 800 more feeds from the school and traffic cameras, as well as the future streaming of hundreds of officer body cams. As if this wasn’t enough, police will soon have access to the thousands of private cameras used by local businesses. It’s as if they are using 1984 as an instruction manual.

As what point does this dystopian surveillance grid growth begin to slow — when we all have permanently attached shock collars that police can use to ‘lock down’ the town in the event of a ‘threat’?

If the idea of shock collars sounds ridiculous, just remember that prior to 9-11, the idea of spying on Americans in such a manner that is accepted now, was not only shunned, it was illegal.

The good news is that people are informing themselves about these insane police state measures and are resisting them.

After the citizens expressed their outrage over Beware’s threat rating system, Fresno Chief of Police Jerry Dyer, said he now wants to make changes to address resident’s concerns, according to the Post. Dyer claims that they are working to get the color-coded rating system, and the social media spying disabled.

Fresno is not alone in their outrage either; we’ve already seen well-informed communities stop their police departments from obtaining such equipment. The city council of Bellingham, Washington, rejected a proposed purchase of the Beware ‘threat rating’ system in 2014.

Despite the Bellingham police department receiving a $25,000 federal grant to cover some of the $36,000 annual cost of Beware, the citizens still said ‘nay.’ At a mandatory hearing about the purchase from Intrado, Bellingham citizens discovered how Beware worked and opposed the purchase.

Only through a lesser ignorance and peaceful resistance will the police state be stopped.

Source: Activist Post



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