Jump to content

Police Secretly Watching Hip-Hop Celebs In Florida


Recommended Posts

Police Secretly Watching Hip-Hop Celebrities In Florida

Critics See Surveillance As Unnecessary, Racist

POSTED: 1:40 pm EST March 9, 2004

UPDATED: 1:43 pm EST March 9, 2004

MIAMI -- Police say they are secretly monitoring hip-hop stars P. Diddy, DMX and others in South Florida to protect them, but celebrities and critics see the surveillance as unnecessary and racist.

Officers in Miami and Miami Beach have photographed rappers and their entourages at Miami International Airport and staked out hotels, video shoots and nightclubs while consulting 6-inch-thick dossiers of rappers and associates with arrest records in New York state, The Miami Herald reported.

"We have to keep an eye on these rivalries," said Assistant Miami Beach Police Chief Charles Press. "The last thing we need in this city is violence."

Some experts believe the sweeping surveillance of a genre of musicians is unprecedented.

"There's been no shortage of rock stars and other musicians" scrutinized by police, said Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. "But there has never been anything like this."

Miami Beach and Miami police did not immediately respond to calls Wednesday for additional comment.

Police began gathering intelligence on rap artists after the Memorial Day 2001 weekend, when 250,000 hip-hop fans flocked to South Beach for four days of parties hosted by their favorite rappers. More than 210 people were arrested, double usual number, most for disorderly conduct and intoxication.

Although no major rap artists were arrested, police decided to learn the nuances of hip-hop culture, Press said.

"Nobody on the beach had a handle on who the players were," Press said. "We didn't know anything. We didn't know who were the big record labels, who were the kingpins. We didn't know why there were rivalries with Ja Rule and Eminem."

Officers were sent to New York for a three-day training session in May, along with police from Los Angeles, Atlanta and other cities. That's where they received the dossiers, said Miami police Sgt. Rafael Tapanes.

"This kind of conduct shows insensitivity to constitutional limitations," said Nova Southeastern University law professor and constitutional law expert Bruce Rogow. He represented 2 Live Crew when the rap group was prosecuted for obscenity in the early '90s. "It also implicates racial stereotyping."

Only one of 97 officers in supervisory positions at the Miami Beach police department is black. Miami has 226 ranking officers and 26 are black.

"The cities should take taxpayer dollars and put them toward something else," said Luther Campbell, the former 2 Live Crew rapper.

http://www.local6.com/news/2908747/detail.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Police Chief Denies Profiling Rap Stars

Officers Admit Watching Rappers, Studying Hip-Hop

NBC 6 News Team

POSTED: 8:38 am EST March 17, 2004

UPDATED: 12:43 pm EST March 17, 2004

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Miami Police Chief John Timoney on Wednesday denied a newspaper report saying his department is building dossiers on hip-hop stars who live and party in Miami and Miami Beach.

A March 9 Miami Herald report said local police departments have been monitoring rap artists and their entourages, photographing them at clubs, on music video shoots, at Miami International Airport and other places and building thick files on them, including any information on gang activity or prior arrests.

Some of the rappers mentioned in the report included P. Diddy, DMX, Ja Rule and 50 Cent, all of whom have had prior brushes with law enforcement.

While Timoney denied any organized profiling, his denial suggested police were paying special attention to rap artists.

"I've read the articles," Timoney said. "The allegations and charges that are in these articles are basically, for the most part, untrue."

Timoney did acknowledge that Miami police officers have traveled to New York for briefing sessions with New York police on the hip-hop industry and the musical rivalries that often occur, and that one officer received a binder containing photos of rap artists, and information on their criminal records.

But Timoney insisted there was no formal profiling.

"You would assume that the Miami police department has been profiling, watching rap artists meeting them at airports, surveilling them, taking pictures, going to their hotel rooms and doing all sorts of covert surveillances," he said during a press conference. "Not only is it not true, I would never allow such a thing to happen and it has not happened."

But the Herald continued to stand by the story, which the paper says was based on interviews with Miami and Miami Beach police officers, some of whom were quoted. At least two Miami police officers, Det. Peter Rosario and Sgt. Rafael Tapanes, told the paper they were among a small group assigned to keep an eye on hip-hop artists.

"A lot, if not most, rappers belong to some sort of gang," the paper quoted Tapanes as saying. "We keep track of their arrests and associates."

Rosario told the paper "there is always beef between rappers."

Tapanes went on to say the officers involved in the surveillance were trained on what clues to look for in the lyrics of rappers' songs that might indicate rivalries or potential violence, and that some officers have been dispatched to concerts "for intelligence gathering."

Other officers who spoke to NBC 6 last week acknowledged that police are keeping tabs on rap artists, and seeking to better understand the world of hip-hop, where rivalries are blamed for the deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur in 1996 and Notorious B.I.G. in 1997.

"We have to keep an eye on these rivalries," Assistant Miami Beach Police Chief Charles Press said last week. "The last thing we need in this city is violence."

"These are your main players," added Miami Beach Police Detective Bobby Hernandez. "This is why you have that competition between East Coast and West Coast. Nobody here knew this stuff, and now we're one of the most hip-hop savvy police departments in the country, and that's attributable to us taking the initiative to go out there and learning the most we could about the industry."

The intelligence gathering reportedly began after the 2001 Memorial Day weekend, when 250,000 hip-hop fans flocked to South Beach for four days of parties hosted by their favorite rappers and hip-hop magazines. More than 210 people were arrested -- double the number on a typical weekend. Police said most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct and intoxication.

In recent years, rap stars have increasingly flocked to Miami Beach, and local police said after 2001, they met with New York City police to learn all they could about the hip-hop industry and culture, in a bid to prevent violence.

Press told the Herald police had not expected the large crowds, and that the department decided to create a system to "protect" the artists and their entourages when they visited Miami.

But critics have blasted the policy as unneccessary and racist, saying it raises civil rights and privacy concerns. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, a non-profit group headed by Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons, have threatened legal action.

The Miami Beach Police Department has scheduled meetings with the city's black host committee, the mayor and city manager to discuss the issue.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/2928314/detail.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unrelated, but similar...

Outside this inquiry, police secretly set up a van to take pictures of the people who attended. They claim it is vitally important to keep tabs on the people going in and out. No real indication as to why.

Now...When you set up police surveillance outside an inquiry looking into the possible murder of an aboriginal youth by your own department, for some reason the native people in attendance don't feel that's really cool.

Who would have thought? :angry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Our picks

    • Wait, Burning Man is going online-only? What does that even look like?
      You could have been forgiven for missing the announcement that actual physical Burning Man has been canceled for this year, if not next. Firstly, the nonprofit Burning Man organization, known affectionately to insiders as the Borg, posted it after 5 p.m. PT Friday. That, even in the COVID-19 era, is the traditional time to push out news when you don't want much media attention. 
      But secondly, you may have missed its cancellation because the Borg is being careful not to use the C-word. The announcement was neutrally titled "The Burning Man Multiverse in 2020." Even as it offers refunds to early ticket buyers, considers layoffs and other belt-tightening measures, and can't even commit to a physical event in 2021, the Borg is making lemonade by focusing on an online-only version of Black Rock City this coming August.    Read more...
      More about Burning Man, Tech, Web Culture, and Live EventsView the full article
      • 0 replies
    • Post in What Are You Listening To?
      Post in What Are You Listening To?
    • Post in What Are You Listening To?
      Post in What Are You Listening To?
    • Post in What Are You Listening To?
      Post in What Are You Listening To?
    • Post in What Are You Listening To?
      Post in What Are You Listening To?
×
×
  • Create New...