Video and Transcript of CNN reporting on the InauguRell Arrest debacle where I was targeted and jailed for speaking my mind.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFpN68M4JpE&feature=player_embeddedThis investigation into Homeland Security Fusion Centers aired on CNN on September 30, 2009 during the morning show, and again on October 3 and 4, 2009 during Gerri Willis' show "Your Bottom Line."
Here's the transcript, from CNN:
KEN KRAYESKE, ACTIVIST: I drop the bike...
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORREPSONDENT: It was the morning of Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell's inaugural parade.
KRAYESKE: ... pulled out my camera, and I just shoot Governor Rell about 23 shots.
WILLIS: Moments later, Ken Krayeske was stopped by Hartford police officers, handcuffed, arrested and jailed.
KRAYESKE: I said what did I do? They said you shouldn't have been making those threats.
WILLIS: Local police have been on the look out for him after state police gave out a security bulletin with his photo on it. Officials wouldn't comment pending a civil lawsuit. The court documents reveal state police were alarmed by Krayeske's blog posts. "Who is going to protest the inaugural ball with me?" And, "No need to make nice."
KRAYESKE: Why do I have to be nice to a political figure simply because she won an election? WILLIS: Police began digging for information, mining public and commercial data bases. They learned Krayeske had been a Green Party campaign director, had protested the gubernatorial debate and had once been convicted for civil disobedience. He had no history of violence.
Law Professor Danielle Citron says police aren't supposed to gather information on citizens who are suspected of a crime.
DANIELLE CITRON, PRIVACY EXPERT: We're interested in someone because they are an advocate for a Green Party candidate and we think they are suspicious because they want to get other people to protest someone's ideas but not because they think there is a true threat to their lives. I think that's just troubling.
WILLIS: Today, law enforcement collects and shares more information than ever. And much of it goes on at state intelligence centers called fusion centers.
Fusion centers were started after 9/11 to help federal, state and law enforcement connect the dots and stop a terrorist attack. The Department of Homeland Security says they are a critical tool in keeping the nation safe.
JANET NAPOLITANO, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: In a typical fusion center an FBI agent might be sitting next to a state highway patrol officer. They don't merely share space. They share data bases and techniques.
WILLIS: But what's going into those data bases has critics worried. The ACLU says there's evidence that some fusion centers have targeted Muslim groups and peace activists for surveillance.
MIKE GERMAN, ACLU: Collecting the information about people that has no relevance to whether or not they are breaking the law.
RICH KELLY, DIRECTOR, REGIONAL OPERATIONS INTELLIGENCE CENTER: We're in the center of the analysis element.
WILLIS: The director of New Jersey's Fusion Center says law enforcement works hard to balance national security with individual privacy.
KELLY: We in law enforcement and certainly in fusion centers are very attuned to the bill of rights. We're not in the business of investigating first amendment -- or constitutionally-protected rights.
WILLIS: But Ken Krayeske thinks that police in his town crossed the line.
KRAYESKE: The police did not determine the difference between who was dangerous and who was merely expressing protected constitutional -- their constitutionally protected viewpoints.
http://www.the40yearplan.com/CNN_on_Fusion_Centers.php