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A Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits and Pulling Them Over (www.404media.co)
submitted 4 days ago by [M] to c/Independent_Media@lemmy.today
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Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull people over who are not suspected of any specific crime, but which the government thinks may be worth searching, 404 Media has found.

The units, the name of which 404 Media is revealing here for the first time, are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT). In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and local authorities stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI.

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[–] 1 point 4 days ago (3 children)

You don't think you'll look like an outlier if you have way less purchasing history on record than most people with your income? I'd think those would be the first people they'd go for.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 days ago (1 child)

    Exactly. They're looking for people carrying cash or goods they can steal.

    Why bully people for fun when they can bully people for fun and profit?

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago

    That is often quite true. Never tell the police of cash you have, never keep it where they can find it.

    People have been robbed by the police while holding and presenting a bank receipt for pulling that money out for a legitimate purpose.

    On the other hand, the swells can shut your entire bank account down under some pretense and there is nothing you can do about it.

    I lean towards cash being the better bet at this point, but you need a mix.

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