'Citizen Spying Program' revealed in #BlueLeaks documents, Austin Chronicle reported; general ineptitude at fusion centers likely prevents worse abuses

Grits wanted to flag this report from the Austin Chronicle on some of the "BlueLeaks" revelations dumped from, among other agencies, Texas fusion centers. The Chron reported that the documents "reveal a secret citizen spying program that's active in the Austin area and across the country." They plan to follow up with future stories.

Reported the Chron's John Anderson, about 800 so-called Threat Liaison Officers (TLOs) "report suspicious activity or behavior" to the Austin fusion center. TLOs "include sworn law enforcement officers, but also non-sworn government employees as well as private citizens." Some TLOs work as "private security officers with local hotels, malls, large venues, and local semiconductor companies. Others are government employees in 'education,' 'code enforcement,' and 'public works.'" Further, documents alluded to partner organizations in the "military," "hospital systems," and the "faith community."

Texas Civil Rights Project lawyer and fusion center Community Advocate Peter Steffensen told the Chronicle the TLO program creates "a cadre of anonymous, non-law-enforcement citizen informants who, unlike ARIC, are completely unaccountable to the public."

Grits tracked fusion center activities some when they first rolled out, but soon concluded that their ineptitude and irrelevant methods, in practice, trumped the potential civil liberties threats. I more or less feel about them as I did in 2008: "[P]robably the greatest comfort to me about potential abuse of fusion centers is that I don't believe analysts can meaningfully comb through that much data pro-actively, which means their work is reactive and thus largely redundant and worthless. I see them, at least so far, as more a pointless boondoggle than a tangible privacy threat. That could change, though, if we begin to hear evidence these data streams have been abused."

We've seen some of these criticisms before, but now researchers can review primary documentation for themselves. Grits still considers Texas fusion centers more boondoggle than threat. But the potential threat is certainly there, and it grows when hundreds of private informants have access to this information, even if they've signed non-disclosure agreements.

DPS on de-escalation training: We already do that

Among the settlement terms leaked to the press in the Sandra Bland case this week was a statement that the Texas Department of Public Safety would provide de-escalation training for current and future troopers.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Waller County agreed to the terms, including shelling out $1.8 million, on Wednesday. In an emailed press release, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said the county will be "increasing the training and education of jail employees in respect to mental health assessments in jail and improving our policies and processes."

Another $100,000 is said to be forthcoming from the Texas Department of Public Safety, although spokesman Tom Vinger says that DPS hasn't settled and is not a party to any agreements between the plaintiffs and Waller County.

Technically, DPS isn't a party, since the lawsuit named Trooper Brian Encinia, who was terminated earlier this year and faces a perjury charge. So how could they be responsible for any settlement terms?

Cannon Lambert, Geneva Reed-Veal's lead attorney, said DPS will be paying Encinia's piece of the settlement, and in a phone call, said the training agreement was true despite DPS' statement. "It's just one of the things that Ms. Geneva was very interested to see happen. Obviously she knows she can't get Sandy back, but there are things she can impact going forward," Lambert said. He said DPS agreed to implementing deescalation training taught by a third-party both in the field and for new recruits.

"We understood that it would be done very soon," Lambert said, adding that better deescalation tactics would have kept Bland out of the Waller County Jail, where she later died.

But according to Vinger, new recruits already get training on deescalation. He also said that "earlier this year," DPS began requiring troopers to complete an 8-hour deescalation course - provided by the Texas Police Association, a third-party.

When told about DPS' comment, Lambert said, "That's not what they conveyed to us." He also said that the agreement was that DPS was willing to "look at the circumstances and change what they are doing." Lambert is pleased that deescalation training will be enhanced, saying, "I just wish they'd have done this a year and a half ago."

[From 9/18/16 Grits post: Policy folks seeking more background on deescalation training and policies should check out the Police Executive Research Forum's "Guiding Principles on Use of Force" (pdf, 136 pages).]

RELATED: From the Texas Tribune, "DPS changes in wake of Sandra Bland death in dispute."