Activists sue Oregon city over illegal protest surveillance claim

MEDFORD, Ore. (CN) — A group of progressive political activists sued a southern Oregon city Tuesday saying its police department has been illegally spying on and collecting information about them.

The city of Medford’s police department is violating an Oregon statute aimed at forbidding law enforcement from surveilling individuals and groups outside of criminal investigations, three activist groups claim in their complaint in Jackson County Circuit Court.

In 2023, a public records request filed by the organization Information for Public Use revealed the police department had been discussing the surveillance of politically active activists in the area, the activists say.

Emails between two Medford police officers demonstrate the department was collecting and sharing information about local activist groups’ online presence to monitor their political activity after the murder of George Floyd by a Minnesota police officer in 2020 and the uptick in protests that followed, according to the activists.

The activists accuse the police department of infiltrating a progressive group’s social media account “for the express purpose of engaging in unlawful monitoring” by joining the “Rise and Resist Southern Oregon” Facebook group. They also say police surveilled reproductive rights groups ahead of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs ruling by collecting information on the expected attendees of a protest at a public plaza and watching a live video feed of the plaza.

According to the ACLU-backed plaintiffs, the police department has a longstanding practice of engaging in illegal spying and is violating a 1981 Oregon statute that prohibits law enforcement from collecting or maintaining information about the views or activities of individuals or groups unless it directly relates to criminal investigations.

The rise of social media has allowed the department to “supercharge” its surveillance, say the plaintiffs — advocacy group the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers, nonprofit group the Stabbin’ Wagon and its founder Melissa Jones — and the Medford Police Department maintains digital dossiers on civilians who are engaged in “peaceful, constitutionally protected speech and protest activities.”

The activists say they’re being targeted by the police department for their abolitionist views; Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers’ goal is to “counter bigotry in all its forms,” and it frequently draws public attention to law enforcement misconduct in the area, while The Stabbin’ Wagon provides harm reduction services like distributing clean syringes and overdose prevention medication — and has an organization-wide policy to not aid or work with law enforcement. The nonprofit also records and publishes its clients’ interactions with law enforcement.

Internal police emails described Jones, the founder of the Stabbin’ Wagon, as a “known protest player” and admitted to monitoring her social media accounts, the activists say.

Public records show the department has collected and maintained a dossier of information about Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers political activity, including screenshots of social media posts, unrelated to any criminal activity or investigations, the activists say.

“For a number of months, I was afraid to leave my house. I had been doxed,” Sam Strong, co-founder of the Rogue Valley Pepper Shakers, said in a statement. “My friends and I continue to be scared. The police have so much power within their own group and also in the community.”

The activists are asking the court to prohibit the city and police department from collecting and storing information on their “provocative but constitutionally protected” activities.

Medford refutes the activists’ claims that the police are violating the statute and said the department reviews publicly available social media not to analyze political, religious or social views but to “address legitimate public safety concerns related to public rallies and protests.”

Some of those concerns include potential traffic disruptions, possible breaches of peace, potential conflicts between protesters and counter-protesters and risks of property damage or violence, the city said.

“We use publicly accessible information to plan and staff events impacting public safety,” Medford Police Chief Justin Ivens said in a statement. “This ensures our ability to address potential safety concerns while safeguarding those exercising their constitutional right to free speech."

The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Alicia LeDuc Montgomery and Bradley Bernstein Sands.

“The Medford Police is blatantly disregarding a three-decades-old state law that prohibits this type of surveillance,” Kelly Simon, the legal director for ACLU of Oregon, said in a statement. “Their doubling down is a bald display of impunity from those we trust to enforce the law.”