The Oregon Department of Justice might have avoided a racial-profiling scandal had employees been more attune with 1980s hip-hop legends, according to an investigation meant to uncover any improper conduct related to the agency’s surveillance of Black Lives Matter supporters.
A report released this week details an incident that roiled the department last year after accusations surfaced that the head of the department’s civil rights division was profiled by his own colleagues.
An investigator within the department’s criminal justice division launched a probe of Oregon DOJ employee Erious Johnson after searching for tweets referencing #blacklivesmatter and finding posts authored by Mr. Johnson that he believed could be perceived as threats against police officers. The report, authored by outside attorney Carolyn Walker, indicates that the initial tweet in question actually depicted the logo of the hip-hop group Public Enemy as well as the phrase associated with the group, “Consider yourselves … WARNED!”
The logo itself, which depicts the outline of a person in crosshairs, has caused confusion in the past. Members of Public Enemy said in a 2014 Rolling Stone article that the logo, first adopted by the group when they formed in the 1980s, was meant to symbolize “a black man in America,” but that the hat worn by the figure has been confused with one of a state trooper.
Ms. Walker’s report on the Oregon DOJ, which determined the profiling incident was isolated and not an indication of widespread behavior, laid blame for the incident on a lack of cultural competency and diversity within the agency.
“The lack of a diverse or alternative point of view regarding the import of the search results contributed to the belief that Mr. Johnson’s posts constituted a potential threat to the police,” the report states.
The investigator, who was unnamed in the report, came across Mr. Johnson’s twitter account while using a new digital tool obtained by the department that tracked social media use by geographic area. He was specifically surveying uses of #blacklivesmatter in the Salem, Oregon, area on Twitter at the beginning of October.
The report notes that the searches violated department policy because they were “not tied to a criminal investigation and there were no reasonable grounds to believe there was an existing threat in the Salem area at the time he conducted his search.”
The investigator eventually authored a one-page written memo regarding Mr. Johnson’s tweets, which was forwarded on to supervisors who did recognize the crosshairs image as the Public Enemy logo.
When the report reached Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who “expressed her extreme displeasure over the report” because she believed the investigator has engaged in racial profiling, she ordered anti-racial profiling training for the division and the discontinuation of Digital Stakeout, the digital search tool.
Investigators within the department had also used Digital Stakeout to search for social-media posts related to both white supremacist groups and outlaw motorcycle gangs in conjunction with phrases that represent hostility or threats to law enforcement, according to the report.
Attorney Becky Gallagher, who is representing the investigator, declined to comment on the report.
Meanwhile representatives from the Oregon chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union were aghast at the report’s findings.
“I honestly don’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the lack of awareness that was revealed of both the law and of what might constitute a threat,” wrote Executive Director David Rogers in a response posted to the ACLU’s website. “This is not only shameful, but also dangerous. Given the power that they wield, I am dismayed at the state of the Criminal Justice Division and afraid for the Oregonians that are supposed to be protected by them.”
Oregon DOJ spokeswoman Kristina Edmunson said this week that the investigator remains on paid administrative leave.
When asked to describe the training that will be put into place as a result of the investigator’s probe, Ms. Edmunson said the department was still “working on the specifics of what the training will include.”
There was no word on whether information about seminal 1980s hip-hop groups will make the cut.
• Andrea Noble can be reached at anoble@washingtontimes.com.
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