NYPD seeks to identify potential ‘deranged’ gunmen by monitoring Internet chatter

credit: Digital Journal

Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Activist Post

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is reportedly considering widespread Internet surveillance in an attempt to identify and eliminate potential “deranged” gunmen before they commit their crimes, efforts which, one must assume, would be in addition to their so-called social media unit.

This idea came in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which is quite interesting since similar ideas were put forth after the mass shooting in Norway.

Just as politicians shamelessly continue to exploit the Connecticut shooting to push their gun control agendas, it seems that those who would like to eliminate any and all privacy will seek to use the incident for their own ends as well.

The NYPD’s top intelligence officials met on Dec. 20 to discuss techniques including “cyber-searches of language that mass-casualty shooters have used in e-mails and Internet postings,” according to NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, as quoted in the New York Times.

Some might think this is a great idea but keep in mind, this is the same NYPD that nonsensically has a branch in Kfar Saba, Israel. Furthermore, in the not-so-distant past, an NYPD officer was thrown in a psychiatric ward by his superiors shortly after revealing systemic corruption in the NYPD and a couple was even arrested by the NYPD and detained for 23 hours simply for dancing.

Can we really trust a police department that has been busted for conducting illegal surveillance with finding and properly dealing with alleged potential “deranged” gunmen? How about one that has been busted embellishing their counterterrorism record? How about one that labels people “professional” agitators for legally filming police?

How about one that billed a mother for the cost of repairing the dent in an NYPD police cruiser caused by her son when he was killed by said cruiser? How about one that allegedly manufactured drug charges to meet quotas?

Suffice to say, the NYPD should not be trusted with anything although they do seem to absolutely love surveillance.

“The goal would be to identify the shooter in cyberspace, engage him there and intervene, possibly using an undercover to get close, and take him into custody or otherwise disrupt his plans,” said Kelly in a statement.

In addition, the department is planning to send officers to Newtown and other mass shooting scenes to collect information, according to Paul Browne, NYPD chief spokesman.

One of the potential NYPD tactics mentioned by Browne includes creating an algorithm capable of searching the Internet for “terms used by active shooters in the past that may be an indicator of future intentions.”

Kelly claimed that their method would be somewhat like that used to search for terrorism-related communications online.

According to Kelly, the technique would target “apolitical or deranged killers before they become active shooters,” although specific information was nearly nonexistent.

The meeting included senior NYPD officials and David Cohen, the head of the NYPD’s intelligence division.

“Active shooters can cause multiple deaths in seconds, regardless of police training or how deft the police response,” said Kelly.

“For that reason, the NYPD is examining ways, through intelligence, to try to identify potential active shooters before they strike,” Kelly added.

The real question is: just how effective will this plan be? What will be sacrificed in terms of privacy? What will it cost?

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCYTV Monday nights 7 PM – 9 PM PT/10 PM – 12 AM ET. Show page link here: http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected]