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Miami Police Spying On Hip Hop Stars w/ NYPD Help

HeadlineMar 10, 2004

And Police in Miami have set up a wide surveillance campaign of hip hop stars visiting Southern Florida including P. Diddy, DMX, 50 Cent and Ja Rule. According to the Miami Herald, police have been photographing rappers, staking out hotels where they are staying and watching nightclubs. They have also started monitoring all members of their entourages who have arrest records from New York. Anthony DeCurtis, an editor at Rolling Stone magazine, said he has never heard of such extensive surveillance of musicians before. The Miami Herald also reported that police from Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta and other cities went to New York in May for a three-day training session where they were given dossiers on hip hop stars. Police claim they are doing the monitoring in order to protect the stats and are just trying to learn more about hip hop culture. Critics say their lack of understanding is in part due to the lack of African-Americans in power within the police. Only one of 97 officers in supervisory positions at the Miami Beach police department are African-American. In Miami just over 10 percent of the city’s ranking officers are African American.

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