Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull people over who are not suspected of any specific crime, but which the government thinks may be worth searching, 404 Media has found.
uncertain
Media → run → crime
The units, the name of which 404 Media is revealing here for the first time, are called Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams (PITT).
asserted
Media → reveal → time
In one case, a PITT analyzed the financial activity of a man who was driving across Montana, and local authorities stopped him under the pretense of an obstructed license plate and charged him with a DUI.
asserted
authorities → analyze → DUI
404 Media identified one PITT in the Spokane Sector, Washington, which polices the U.S. border with Canada, and another in the Laredo Sector, Texas, which polices the border with Mexico.
asserted
which → identify → Mexico
The findings add to an Associated Press investigation from last year which found Border Patrol was using automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) as part of the same wide-spanning predictive policing program.
asserted
Patrol → add → program
“The bottom line is genuine probable cause cannot be synthetically generated,” Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center For Democracy & Technology, told 404 Media in an email.
asserted
Laperruque → generate → email
Here Border Patrol seems to be “using parallel construction to cloak the reason behind its car stops in secrecy.
asserted
Patrol → seem → secrecy
If we can't meaningfully review and evaluate these systems, we can't trust them,” he added.
asserted
he → review → them
Predictive policing is a highly controversial practice that police departments and federal agencies are increasingly turning to.
asserted
departments → turn → that
The practice is designed to find people who may have committed crimes, but at the moment, no evidence of them doing so exists.
uncertain
them → design → moment
Broadly, law enforcement may analyze data — such as a person's movements, where they are at a certain time, or the roads they drive — then create or find another pretense to pull them over.
uncertain
they → analyze → them
At around 9:30pm one night in May, Kyle William Olson was driving his black Chevy SUV on Interstate 90, with his dog Ducky in the backseat, according to police reports and an interview Olson gave to 404 Media.
uncertain
Olson → drive → Media
He works on a licensed cannabis farm in California, where he had picked up the weed, and was transporting it home to Wisconsin, he told 404 Media.
asserted
he → work → Media
Olson drove past Sergeant James Beck of the Montana Highway Patrol who was sitting in his police car along with a colleague.
asserted
who → drive → colleague
When Olson passed, Beck noticed the vehicle’s license plate was obstructed by what he described as a tinted cover and the luggage holder, according to a police report.
uncertain
he → pass → report
Beck pulled out, caught up to Olson, and pulled him over.
asserted
Beck → pull → him
“Nothing major,” Beck said once he approached the passenger side window and exchanged pleasantries with Olson, according to bodycam footage.
uncertain
he → say → footage
Beck said Olson’s license plate was “a little bit obstructed.”
asserted
plate → say → ?
“Just so you know, that’s our reason for stopping you,” Beck said.
asserted
Beck → know → you
In the end, the officers demanded Olson step out of the vehicle, they tested his blood and charged him with a DUI.
asserted
they → demand → DUI
Authorities later charged Olson with possession with intent to distribute because of the marijuana in his vehicle, Olson told 404 Media.
asserted
Olson → charge → Media
But that wasn’t the real reason for stopping Olson.
asserted
that → stop → Olson
During discovery in his case, Olson was provided a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) document that explained how Border Patrol instigated his traffic stop.
asserted
Patrol → provide → stop
Written by Border Patrol Agent Matthew Phelps, the document said Phelps was assigned to the “Spokane Sector Border Patrol Targeting & Intelligence Division (TID) — Predictive Intelligence Targeting Team (PITT).”
asserted
Phelps → write → Division
Olson shared the document with 404 Media.
asserted
Olson → share → Media
In his role at the PITT, Phelps wrote he reviews “law enforcement-sensitive databases” to develop intelligence before handing over information to local law enforcement.
asserted
he → write → enforcement
That intelligence specifically involves reviewing Americans’ financial activity, the document says.
asserted
document → involve → activity
In Olson’s case, Phelps says he observed, “information contained within law enforcement-sensitive systems suggesting financial activity patterns commonly associated with illicit narcotics activity.”
asserted
he → say → activity
The document says Phelps also looked at Olson’s prior arrest and criminal history.
asserted
Phelps → say → arrest
Phelps wrote he then sent over what he found to Sergeant Beck, to “support general interdiction efforts.”
asserted
he → write → efforts
Phelps says in the document that his intelligence was not the “sole basis” for the stop.
asserted
intelligence → say → stop
In his own report detailing the stop, Sergeant Beck wrote, “It was relayed to me by U.S. Border Patrol targeting analyst Matthew Phelps that he had identified a vehicle that had indicators of possible narcotics trafficking.”
asserted
that → detail → trafficking
Beck then pulled over Olson for the obstructed license plate.
asserted
Beck → pull → plate
The DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows that Border Patrol is analyzing the financial activity of Americans to find people to pull over.
asserted
Patrol → obtain → people
The Associated Press’s investigation found the predictive policing program is also heavily using ALPRs to track potential targets’ movements.
asserted
program → find → movements
It is not clear how exactly Border Patrol is monitoring Americans’ financial activity.
asserted
Patrol → monitor → activity
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declined to answer what financial activity the agency was monitoring, and whether it obtained a warrant or not.
asserted
it → decline → warrant
A CBP spokesperson told 404 Media in an email: “U.S. Border Patrol uses intelligence-informed analysis and planning to support national security operations, allocate resources, and help identify potential threats and bad actors to public safety.
asserted
Patrol → tell → safety
These efforts are conducted consistent with applicable law, policy, privacy protections, and oversight requirements.”
asserted
efforts → conduct → law
“For operational security reasons, we do not discuss specific analytical methods, data sources, targeting criteria, investigative techniques, system capabilities, or deployment details.
asserted
we → discuss → methods
…and 14 more, not listed.
