(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- In an exclusive report on Monday, the Epoch Times revealed that plainclothes members of the DC Metropolitan Police Department’s Electronic Surveillance Unit were embedded among the protesters outside of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Epoch Times obtained a DC Metro First Amendment Demonstrations report revealing that these plainclothes officers were there in the crowd to “document the actions of the demonstrators and MPD’s response to any civil disobedience or criminal activity.”
The report obtained by the Epoch Times was issued on January 3, 2021 by the DC Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau and Special Operations Division.
According to J. Michael Waller, senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy, it is likely that MPD Chief of Police Robert Contee didn’t set up the Electronic Surveillance Unit, but rather inherited it since Contee only became chief on January 2, 2021.
Waller believes this MPD report “raises a lot of questions,” noting that electronic surveillance would require a warrant. Did the Metro police get warrants for this surveillance? And if so, under whose jurisdiction? If they didn’t get warrants, what kind of surveillance were these plainclothes ESU members conducting?
According to the Epoch Times, it is unclear exactly who these MPD ESU members were. The January 3 report never refers to them as “officers” or “police.” What’s more, the Electronic Surveillance Unit is not listed among the 37 specialized units of the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
According to the report, ESU members wore a bracelet on their left wrist that identified them as “MPD personnel” so other security on site could recognize them while they were embedded in the crowd of protesters.
Waller said it is disturbing that the MPD report only refers to “members” of the ESU as opposed to “officers” or “agents.” He said it begs the question was the MPD using private contractors, paid agents, or “political volunteers.”
Waller told the Epoch Times that the public has a right to know the details. He added that if the Metro Police were conducting warrantless electronic surveillance on American citizens, “this could be a very serious breach of our civil liberties.”
