The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon is suing the city of Medford, saying its police department has been unlawfully monitoring progressive political activists who aren’t suspected of criminal activity. City officials insisted they have not monitored the groups because of their views or constitutionally protected activities, but only to prepare for possible public safety impacts, such as traffic disruptions, conflicts between protesters and counter-protesters, and property damage, the Associated Press reports. In the early 1980s, after revelations that Portland police had routinely surveilled civil liberties, racial justice and other groups, the Oregon Legislature approved a law barring law enforcement agencies from collecting information about the political, religious or social views or activities of any individual or group unless it directly relates to a criminal investigation. According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court, the Medford Police Department for several years has monitored the activities and social media accounts of people involved in an array of causes, including racial justice, LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights, preventing drug overdoses, and providing services for unhoused people.
The lawsuit is based on police emails and other documents first obtained through public records requests by the website info4publicuse.org. It alleges that the police department broke the law by monitoring or infiltrating social media accounts or groups for information about protests, including Black Lives Matter demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in 2020 and a “Bans off our bodies” demonstration around the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the federal right to abortion in 2022. “The Medford Police is blatantly disregarding a three-decades-old state law that prohibits this type of surveillance,” Kelly Simon, ACLU of Oregon legal director, said in a written statement. “Their doubling down is a bald display of impunity from those we trust to enforce the law.” Among the emails cited in the lawsuit were some showing that police monitored activists’ social media for information about the showing of a drive-in movie in conjunction with Juneteenth activities in 2020, amid broader demonstrations over Floyd’s death; about demonstrations concerning a COVID-19 outbreak at a local jail; and about any plans for protests related to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
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