News & Politics - Police secretly watching hip-hop celebs

**meretwins** · 03-11-2004, 08:13 PM

Quote:

March 10, 2004 | MIAMI (AP) -- Police say they are secretly monitoring hip-hop stars P. Diddy, DMX and others in South Florida to protect them, but celebrities and critics see the surveillance as unnecessary and racist.

Officers in Miami and Miami Beach have photographed rappers and their entourages at Miami International Airport and staked out hotels, video shoots and nightclubs while consulting 6-inch-thick dossiers of rappers and associates with arrest records in New York state, The Miami Herald reported.

"We have to keep an eye on these rivalries," said Assistant Miami Beach Police Chief Charles Press. "The last thing we need in this city is violence."

Some experts believe the sweeping surveillance of a genre of musicians is unprecedented.

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"There's been no shortage of rock stars and other musicians" scrutinized by police, said Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. "But there has never been anything like this."

Miami Beach and Miami police did not immediately respond to calls Wednesday for additional comment.

Police began gathering intelligence on rap artists after the Memorial Day 2001 weekend, when 250,000 hip-hop fans flocked to South Beach for four days of parties hosted by their favorite rappers. More than 210 people were arrested, double usual number, most for disorderly conduct and intoxication.

Although no major rap artists were arrested, police decided to learn the nuances of hip-hop culture, Press said.

"Nobody on the beach had a handle on who the players were," Press said. "We didn't know anything. We didn't know who were the big record labels, who were the kingpins. We didn't know why there were rivalries with Ja Rule and Eminem."

Officers were sent to New York for a three-day training session in May, along with police from Los Angeles, Atlanta and other cities. That's where they received the dossiers, said Miami police Sgt. Rafael Tapanes.

"This kind of conduct shows insensitivity to constitutional limitations," said Nova Southeastern University law professor and constitutional law expert Bruce Rogow. He represented 2 Live Crew when the rap group was prosecuted for obscenity in the early '90s. "It also implicates racial stereotyping."

Only one of 97 officers in supervisory positions at the Miami Beach police department is black. Miami has 226 ranking officers and 26 are black.

"The cities should take taxpayer dollars and put them toward something else," said Luther Campbell, the former 2 Live Crew rapper.

Headhunter · 03-11-2004, 08:52 PM

Hmm, the only thing that surprises me about this is that it's so public. This has gone on for an extremely long time; groups like N.W.A. and artists like 2Pac attracted strong police attention from the outset of their careers.

Age-a-licious · 03-12-2004, 01:52 PM

It's confusing that out of all the artists they could've mentioned they said they were monitoring D.M.X and P.diddy. From what I've seen, P.Diddy and X haven't had any big battles w/other groups in..forever. B.I.G had Tupac. Ja Rule has 50. Eminem had..pretty much everyone. And Jay-Z had Nas.

But they used one who is becoming a pastor after he retires (DMX) and someone else whose also retiring (P.Diddy) to make a point.

[img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

J@NeY · 03-12-2004, 07:39 PM

All the violence going on in peoples homes and on the streets and they are watching rappers like Puffy and DMX?!! I think how pathetic is this. I understand that yeah there are people in the hip/hop world that have beef with each other. And yeah rappers have been killed like Tupac and Biggie but come on.

I don't think there would really be violence between the rappers anyway. I mean how many minders and bodygaurds do they have around them? It wouldn't be them doing the deed anyway if any violnce did happen.

Headhunter · 03-13-2004, 08:52 AM

The reasoning is, rappers need to be watched because they can incite far greater violence amongst their fans. I can understand rappers being under active surveillance, but only if there is already sufficient legal evidence to pursue it...

P. Diddy and DMX do strike me as really odd choices, though. Maybe Diddy for his huge empire, but DMX doesn't have much of anything going on anymore.

I'm Not Your Boy Toy · 03-14-2004, 11:45 PM

i agree with HeadHunter

maybe one of their "leads" tipped them off? [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

*Sarah Marie* · 03-30-2004, 01:17 AM

When I read the article, I automatically thought of like... 50 cent, Eminem, and all that... P.Diddy and DMX?! You hardly even hear DMX in the news anymore... who the hell could he be startin s**t with??