Category: Investigative
Record Numbers of Complaints Against Minneapolis Police Amidst Ketamine and Killings
Minneapolis, MN – The public has filed staggering numbers of complaints against the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in 2018, and high-profile incidents of police misconduct, brutality, and killings have embroiled the department. A year after an MPD officer killed an unarmed Australian, Justine Damond, and…
Icebreaker Pt. 5 – Confidential Homeland Security Undercover Operations Handbook
Washington, DC – As the Trump administration’s immigration policies continue to generate escalating backlash, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has come under increasing scrutiny. Journalists, senators, and others attempting to learn more about the agency’s practices have been frequently turned away and/or had their requests…
Georgia Police Used Fake News From Militia To Plan For Nazi Rally, Emails Show
Newnan, GA – Emails obtained by Unicorn Riot through a public records request to the Coweta County Sheriff suggest that law enforcement relied on false ‘alt-right’ posts in their planning for an April 21, 2018 rally by the neo-nazi National Socialist Movement (NSM). The NSM…
Tennessee Homeland Security Analyst: Violent Neo-Nazis “Not The Issue”
Knoxville, TN – Emails obtained by Unicorn Riot through public records requests show conversations between law enforcement monitoring events concerning the now-defunct neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party, or TWP. An email thread we received from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shows a loose timeline of various…
Icebreaker Pt 4 – Homeland Security Special Agent On-the-Job Training Manual
Unicorn Riot obtained a series of Homeland Security Investigations policy manuals. Part 4 of the Icebreaker series of stories covers the 2008 version of the special agent training program, shedding light on the overall architecture of the Department of Homeland Security and how it instills…
Icebreaker Pt 3 – Confidential Homeland Security Fugitive and Compliance Enforcement Handbooks
Unicorn Riot obtained confidential Department of Homeland Security manuals showing how DHS’s largest investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, advised its agents to conduct their operations. Part 3 of the Icebreaker series turns to the “Compliance Enforcement Investigations” and “Fugitives” handbooks, ICE/HSI manuals that lay out…
Icebreaker Pt 2 – Confidential Homeland Security Asset Forfeiture and Search and Seizure Handbooks
Unicorn Riot obtained confidential Department of Homeland Security manuals showing how DHS’s largest investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, advised its agents to conduct their operations. Part 2 of the Icebreaker series covers the HSI “Search and Seizure” and “Asset Forfeiture” handbooks.
Some of the material…
Icebreaker Pt 1 – Secret Homeland Security ICE/HSI Manual for Stripping US Citizenship
A confidential manual, which Unicorn Riot has obtained in full, guides the US Department of Homeland Security’s little-known investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations, in targeting and stripping citizenship from naturalized foreign-born Americans.
This is the first story in Unicorn Riot’s “Icebreaker” series, which aims to…
DC Mayor, Police Refuse to Release Financial Records of Trump Inauguration Investigation
Washington, DC – Last month, on December 19, 2017, Unicorn Riot reporters filed a FOIA request for time cards submitted by Detective Greggory Pemberton during his work investigating people arrested at a protest against Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20, 2017. Both the DC…
Florida Prepares Statewide Police Resources To Defend Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer
UPDATE (Wednesday, October 18, 2017): An anonymous source has contacted Unicorn Riot and provided us with two images that show planned police deployments to protect the Richard Spencer event at University of Florida campus on the 19th. Our source told us that these maps do…
Charlotte: Emails Show Confusion Over Cancelled Nazi Torch Rally
Charlotte, NC – Through a records request sent to the office of Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, Unicorn Riot obtained emails regarding the recently cancelled neo-Nazi ‘torch rally’ that had been scheduled for December 28. Of the 20 emails we received, 14 were sent by Charlotte…
DATA RELEASE: Neo-Nazis Plan Revenge in New Discord Server After #UniteTheRight
Lincoln, NE – Far-right white supremacists are continuing to use the Discord online chat platform to organize stalking and hacking campaigns against their anti-racist opponents.
In the immediate aftermath of the violence against protesters, ending in the death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville, VA on…
Charlottesville Violence Planned Over Discord Servers: Unicorn Riot Reports
Charlottesville, VA – On Friday August 11, the day before the white supremacist Unite the Right rally, Unicorn Riot reporters en route to Charlottesville began to receive leaks from planning meetings preparing for the event. Over the group gaming chat platform Discord, representatives from various…
🦄 DAPL, Investigative, Police
Sheriffs’ Association Secretly Waged “Information War” on #NoDAPL Movement
Morton County, ND – A new investigation by DeSmog and Muckrock reveals the behind-the-scenes role played by the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) in crafting narratives for law enforcement tasked with protecting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) from resistance by indigenous peoples and their allies.
Emails…
DAPL Security Leak Shows Coordinated Surveillance and Repression of Water Protectors
Bismarck, ND – Leaked documents created by military intelligence contractor TigerSwan, recently obtained and published by The Intercept, provide a previously unseen look inside the operations taken by Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) security contractors against the #NoDAPL movement. TigerSwan was contracted to coordinate DAPL security…
Roots of Iran-Contra Crisis Found in Recording of Airport Attack Plan
In November of 1985, an American pilot working in El Salvador, Wally Grasheim, and a veteran CIA officer, Felix Rodriguez, were both deeply involved in covert operations to aid the U.S. effort against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government and other leftist groups in Central America. In…
214 Indicted on Felony Riot Charges for Protesting Trump Inauguration
Washington, D.C. – Dozens of protesters appeared in District of Columbia Superior Court on Tuesday, March 14, to face charges stemming from a mass arrest conducted by police during demonstrations on the streets of D.C. against the inauguration of Donald Trump as president on January…
Eviction of Denver DIY Stronghold Rhinoceropolis Ordered by Deputy Police Chief
Denver, CO – Following the eviction by the Denver Police and Fire Departments of the longtime Do-It-Yourself (DIY) art and music space Rhinoceropolis earlier this month, the RiNO neighborhood association issued a statement condemning the eviction.
In addition to objecting to the targeting of a…
🦄 DAPL, Eco, Investigative, Police
Nebraska Supplied State Troopers, Surveillance Aircraft to North Dakota Under EMAC
Morton County, ND – Documents acquired through a series of public records requests shine light on ongoing out-of-state law enforcement assistance to the Morton County Sheriff and the state of North Dakota in their militarized police operations to protect construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.…
🦄 DAPL, Investigative, Police
Documents Show Details of Wisconsin EMAC Assistance to Morton County Sheriff
Morton County, ND – In August, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple declared a State of Emergency in reaction to ongoing direct actions and demonstrations against construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in Morton County, near the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal reservation.
Dalrymple’s State of…
Emails Show North Dakota Budget Bureaucracy Behind #NoDAPL Policing
Bismarck, ND – Emails acquired by Unicorn Riot via public records request to the North Dakota Office of Budget and Management allow a small glimpse into the behind-the-scenes working of the state government around the date of a permitted protest rally against the Dakota Access…
“Toxic Tour,” Governor Debate Disruption, Water Protectors in Court
Morton County, ND – On Monday, October 3rd, a large group of water protectors left their encampment to visit several Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction sites.
Following the #NoDapl #ToxicTour as water protectors pray at construction sites to stop pipeline construction. pic.twitter.com/tNaEktsjQu
— UNICORN RIOT…
🦄 DAPL, Eco, Investigative
North Dakota Governor Dalrymple’s Email Inbox Full of Support for #NoDAPL
North Dakota – During the last month of our reporting on the struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we have filed dozens of public records requests to various North Dakota agencies to provide a wider context as events continue to unfold. Accessing public records allows…
Unicorn Riot Records Requests re: Dakota Access Pipeline and Demonstrations
Using the online research toolkit at Muckrock, Unicorn Riot reporters have filed numerous public records requests to various law enforcement and government agencies in North Dakota in the process of our reporting on struggles against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Last week we received refusals from…