Stingray & other Surveillances

Stingray with upgrades costs $640, 000. Stingrays are part of a post 9/11 push by the federal government to step up local police departments Intel gathering and coordination. Since 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security has given more than $54 billion to local law enforcement in part for high tech surveillance equipment, like the Stingray, which eavesdrops on phone calls, and with an assortment of add-ons, like the Fish Hawk listens in on calls. The Harpoon broadens the Stingray’s range. The Amber-Jack antenna helps pinpoint individual phones. The King Fish analyzes call patterns, doing in one stroke. The U.S. military developed Stingray technology in the 1990s. The Local law enforcement started using it in 2003. There are at least 48 departments now using this technology. This type of surveillance monitoring and infiltrating of rallies, soap box speeches, arresting speakers and intimidating strikers, which even went as far as shooting demonstrators is not new. These types of tactics go back to 1886 Hay Market rallies at that time officers targeted the poorest immigrants who were at this time—not the blacks, not the Mexicans—but were the Irish (my how times have not really changed). Just the races and we, wage slaves, must remember how law enforcement came about—it was not to protect citizens, but to put down workers striking for better pay, work environment, fewer hours, all the things people take for granted today. Law enforcement used to be a group of part-time constables, but when they could not put down the workers, business owners pushed the city governments to fund a professional police department. They were tasked with shielding the well-to-do downtown residents from the surrounding rabble or put more bluntly, the rest of us. When the local law enforcement agencies were overwhelmed, the oligarchy business owners pressured state governments to form state National Guard to again protect the property of the rich. The only thing that has changed is the surveillance technology, which is why the wage slaves must know their enemy and themselves to win this inequality war (Art of War). As the Art of War states, begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear: then he will be amendable to your will. Like the streets, sidewalks, and something which effects their wallets. Keep up the fight for equality and the right for a good union.