TEMPE PD OFFERED PROTECTION TO FRAT AT CENTER OF RACIST MLK PARTY

The president of ASU'S expelled Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity tweeted that the chapter had been offered escorts by the Tempe police. The fraternity's president Syed "Shafqat" Huq posted on his twitter account, which is now private, on Thursday that he had been contacted by a sergeant from the Tempe police who offered police escorts to protect fraternity members.  It's unclear what threat the Tempe police believe the TKE frat boys are facing, but Huq laughs off their proposal in his tweet.

It's interesting to note that while the Tempe police regularly coordinate with the FBI to spy on activists, and place department critics on "hazard" watch lists, they are willing to provide police protection to a fraternity with a history of racism and violence. Nor is this the first time the police have come to the aid of ASU's fraternities during a racist outburst. As noted in our previous piece on the violent, racist, and sexist frat culture at ASU, the gangster themed MLK party hosted by TKE members has a historical precedent in the racist actions of campus frats of the past.

As Michael Lacey reported in his Phoenix New Times article on the April 1989 race riot on frat row, the frats faced no consequences from their 500 strong attack on four black students, whom drunk Greeks and party-goers surrounded and pilloried with anti-black racist epithets, in what turned out to be a case of mistaken identity.

Indeed it was two of the attacked black students who were taken in handcuffs to the police station, and one of the men detained by the police recalled the cruelty of police officers during his detention, reporting that his "handcuffs were so tight that he was in pain as he sat in the back of the squad car."  And that "[a]s he shifted positions, he remembered an officer warning him that if he moved again, the cuffs would be tightened until tears came to his eyes."  Lacey also documented the efforts of ASU police to downplay any racist elements of the attack, as the national press cooperated by not reporting on the scale of the attack and the racism of the students present.

The offer of police protection for TKE members is not the only troubling news since the expulsion of the ASU chapter, as more racist skeletons in the TKE closet emerged despite the national organization's attempt at sanitizing their image.  After Arizona State University announced on Thursday that the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity would be expelled from campus, the national TKE fraternity announced its support for the ASU chapter. The national body followed the announcement of expulsion by putting the frat on internal probation, placing the blame for the party on 16 of the chapter's 125 members, and offering to provide a "a professional program on cultural diversity" or something.

The tone of the national TKE is at odds with the efforts of the supporters of the ASU chapter, who created a "SAVE Arizona State University Tau Kappa Epsilon" to rally support for the troubled chapter.  However, the support did not arrive in the way that the backers might have hoped.  A Facebook user named  Micheal King, who claimed to be a TKE alumni, posted a racist frat party photo (see below) of two men in a stereotypical gangster attire, and in black face, with the following text:

Full support on the issues of freedom of speech and expressing controversial opinions and ideas. Save our consititutional rights. here’s a pics from 1990 at Kent state univ. when TKE was allowed to express our rights. if the university or TKE nationals causes you problems, ,seek independent legal advise.

More throwback, 1990, Who is that dark skinned brother on the left ? . Kent State , TKE fraternity party, back when we were allowed to express ourselves. damn, times have changed for the worse. [sic]

The post has since been removed from the Facebook page.  Meanwhile, the official message from the exclusive organization, that "[t]he poor taste and acts of a few are not reflective of the whole" continued to look more and more ridiculous.  As thegloss.com writer Julia Sonenshein noted, 'TKE clicked “like”' on the black face photo. 

READ MORE COVERAGE OF ASU FRATS HERE.

Spier beware: Is the Mesa PD's new snitch app actually spying on you?

Is the new Mesa Police Department's new mobile app spying on the very "good citizens" it purports to gather tips from?  If the permissions section of the Android download page is to be believed, it very likely is.  But just how it might be spying on you depends on which app you download, and it's not clear from the cops' webpage which one you're getting.

The MPD announced the other day that they have a new app for taking tips on crime in Mesa, paid for with funds raised through RICO seizures.  Interestingly, clicking on the Android link on their website actually takes you to an application called TipSubmit.  If you are foolish enough to download it, not only does the program track your location very specifically, but it also has full access to the camera on your phone, which it can use "at any time without your confirmation."  Quite disturbing.

But if you go to Google Play, however, and do a manual search for "mesa police Arizona", what you get is a link to a different app, presumably the new one.  Of course, this one, too, has access to your location, but it also has the ability "to call phone numbers without your intervention".

A search for that specific permission brought up a Geek Squad article titled "How to spot a bad Android smartphone application",  which labeled the ability to directly call phone numbers as "[v]ery suspicious".  Indeed, the app itself notes in its own description that this permission "doesn't allow the app to call emergency numbers" -- ironically probably one of the main functions one would expect from such an app.  So who is it calling?  And what does it need those numbers for?  Does this power extend to turning on the microphone?  Certainly, this ought to give any potential user pause before downloading.  Apparently the Mesa PD didn't think these issues were important enough to address in their press conference -- or maybe no reporter thought to ask them.  Certainly users deserve to know.

The Mesa PD has been quite purposeful in its adoption of policing technology over the last few years, recognizing it as a potential force multiplier in its war on the poor.  In a recent Fox 10 article, Chief Frank Milstead said, "We're a very lean department so we have to use technology to make up for deficiency in staff."  At the same press conference in which he rolled out the new snitch app, he likewise touted the MPD's new mobile identification system and on the spot ticketing system.

Clearly the Mesa PD is dedicated to the 1984-ification of policing, and their new snitch app should be seen in this light.  It masquerades as a tool for making everyone safe, but it's really just yet another Big Brother weapon in their arsenal -- an arsenal that is aimed squarely at us.  It's not intended to make us safer, it's meant to make us more easily controlled, to sow the seeds of distrust and turn us against each other.  To turn us all into potential snitches.

What's more, these police apps bombard us with crime news from our neighborhood and city.  Mesa PD's app promises a paranoia-inducing "crime maps" feature, in which we can  "[v]iew real-time crime maps of activities in your neighborhood or across the city. Explore the details behind the crimes."

Chief Milstead put it this way: "People accusing us of misuse of force. I think our officers are safer because people realize they're on video and they're actually being held accountable by videotape for their actions."  In a January interview, Mesa PD Sgt. Tony Landato described the application of their new fingerprint system.  He said, “Our officers stopped a subject who matched the description who was acting very suspicious. ... We ran his fingerprint. It was not our suspect in the domestic violence. It was a homicide suspect.”  They arrested him.  He had been caught in a very wide virtual and physical dragnet.

The Mesa PD wants to watch us at all times, and it's not about making us safer.  In their unblinking eyes, we are all suspects, especially if we are poor or if we're not white.  We're all suspicious in their eyes.  And where gaps in their surveillance exist, they expect us to do the work for them.  Milstead summed it up in a recent NPR interview: “If we don’t use the public’s eyes to help not only to report crime but to help solve crime, we’re going to miss things."  This app is meant to fill in those gaps by reporting on everyone.