[The FBI investigated Black Lives Matter and anti-police violence
and anti-racism protesters — while ignoring far-right violence that
was being committed in plain sight.] [[link removed]]

HOW THE FBI AND KENOSHA POLICE RECEIVED WISCONSIN’S BLM PROTESTER
LIST  
[[link removed]]


 

Isiah Holmes
November 11, 2021
The Progressive
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_ The FBI investigated Black Lives Matter and anti-police violence
and anti-racism protesters — while ignoring far-right violence that
was being committed in plain sight. _

Kimberly Motley, one of the lawyers representing the families of
those Officer Joseph Mensah has killed, confronts the numerous
officers clad in riot gear in Wauwatosa the evening of August 14th,
2020., Photo: Isiah Holmes Kenosha Police Department

 

New details have emerged regarding a list of people law enforcement
believed to be involved in Black Lives Matter protests last year.
Documents recently obtained by the Wisconsin Examiner show that,
despite earlier statements, the list was indeed shared with members of
the Kenosha Police Department (KPD). The revelations raise questions
about the extensive surveillance which targeted 2020’s
anti-police-brutality movement.

Although its creation date remains unclear, the list was used as
early as mid-July last year
[[link removed]].
Protests in Milwaukee began around May 29
[[link removed]],
following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police
on May 25. Wauwatosa’s protests didn’t begin until early June
[[link removed]]. Originally created by
Dominick Ratkowski, a crime analyst for the Wauwatosa Police
Department (WPD), the list was shared with numerous local and federal
agencies throughout southeastern Wisconsin. Officially, WPD
acknowledges that it was shared with the Milwaukee Police Department
(MPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

[A line of officers in riot and militarized gear block a street in
Wauwatosa during the October curfew. Tear gas was still thick in the
air. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)]
[[link removed]] 

A line of officers in riot and militarized gear block a street in
Wauwatosa during the October curfew. Tear gas was still thick in the
air. (Photo by Isiah Holmes)

However, internal emails gleaned through ongoing lawsuits show
Ratkowski’s sharing of the list was prolific. A day prior
to Wauwatosa’s curfew last October
[[link removed]],
Ratkowski referred to the document as a “target list”
[[link removed]] in
an email. The FBI was also actively gathering information from
agencies and residents in Wisconsin all summer
[[link removed]].

Since the list was released earlier this year, WPD has shied from
calling it a protester list. WPD spokespeople stated the list includes
potential witnesses, victims, or suspects “that were involved with
protesting or the activities surrounding the protests last summer.”

However, it also includes attorneys Kimberley Motley and Deja Vishny.
The pair have represented the families of people killed by former
Wauwatosa officer Joseph Mensah in officer-involved shootings, as well
as many protesters. The list also includes a Wisconsin Examiner
journalist
[[link removed]],
vast swaths of the Milwaukee area’s activist community across
numerous organizations and elected officials. The earliest known
emails discussing the list pre-date Mensah being suspended with pay
[[link removed]] following
public pressure on the suburb. This was one of the first results of
Wauwatosa’s protests, which were motivated by a trio of shootings
[[link removed]] involving
Mensah from 2015 to 2020. Mensah resigned from WPD in late 2020,
and now works as a detective
[[link removed]] at
Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department.

Intel on over 200 people is documented in the list. From names to
notes about criminal records and places protesters used for meetings
to social media accounts, car make and model details, addresses, phone
numbers, and pictures. Motley’s entry labeled her as an attorney,
and the Wisconsin Examiner’s main Facebook page was also cataloged.

A report by TMJ4
[[link removed]] found
that 74.3% of those on the list have never been charged with a
misdemeanor or felony. A 2020 University of Connecticut study found
that at least 96% of Black Lives Matter protests
[[link removed]] nationwide
last year were peaceful.

The Minneapolis Police Department stated in the report that “we do
not keep a database of those who participate in protests,” adding
that the department “strongly encourages people to exercise their
First Amendment rights lawfully.” The Kenosha Police Department and
Sheriff’s Office also told TMJ4
[[link removed]] that
they don’t maintain any similar list. Turns out that wasn’t
entirely true.

How far has it gone?

Wisconsin Examiner recently received an email from KPD via an open
records request that  shows the department received the list. In
mid-September after unrest over the shooting of Jacob Blake subsided
and the armed right-wing groups
[[link removed]] disappeared
from the city, Ratkowski shared the list with Matthew Gibson, a
Milwaukee DA investigator. Gibson retired from the Milwaukee County
District Attorney’s Office earlier this year.

On Aug. 28, Gibson asked for any lists or photographs of protesters to
share with Kenosha. On Sept. 15 the list, which had been shared by
Ratkowski, was sent to Kenosha PD Detective Pablo Torres, who worked
for the department’s Special Investigations Unit at the time.

“Here is an updated list of the subjects identified as members or
associates of The People’s Revolution,” Gibson’s email
reads. The People’s Revolution
[[link removed]] emerged
as a nucleus of protesters who demonstrated throughout southeastern
Wisconsin for over 400 consecutive days following Floyd’s death.
Several law enforcement personnel were cc’d in Gibson’s email,
including an FBI agent. The group, shortened to “TPR,” is
mentioned throughout the email chain. Last August
[[link removed]],
WPD denied targeting any specific groups.

Wisconsin Examiner received explanations from both Kenosha PD Lt.
Joseph Nosalik and Sgt. Leo Viola. Nosalik acts as KPD’s
spokesperson and Viola handled the Examiner’s open records request
costing $100. Viola told Wisconsin Examiner that Torres, the Kenosha
PD detective, was “the only KPD recipient of the list and he never
shared it. The list was not circulated around the department and we
were unaware of the list until your organization’s reporting on it.
During this time period our email servers received tens of thousands
of emails and officers were not regularly checking them as a result of
the unrest. We did not create and do not maintain any similar
lists.”

Nosalik had a similar statement when the Wisconsin Examiner followed
up. “I was not aware that Detective Torres had contacted Sergeant
Viola to tell him he had obtained a copy of a list. Sergeant Viola’s
information stands, and I will correct my information with TMJ4.” He
added that, “I do not see any email addresses in there that show a
list was shared with a kenoshapolice.com or kenosha.org email.”

[Kenosha law enforcement form up with riot shields, long rifles, and
armored vehicles. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)]
[[link removed]] 

Kenosha law enforcement form up with riot shields, long rifles, and
armored vehicles. (Photo | Isiah Holmes)

Michael German, a former FBI agent of 16 years and fellow at the
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University law school, says the
list is problematic. “I think this part highlights the danger of
creating such a list,” German told the Wisconsin Examiner in a
recent interview. “That once a list is created it has a permanency,
and may be used by different entities in a way that it was not
intended.” German stresses that agencies should have seen the list
as a red flag. To the extent that people are protesting, police
shouldn’t be tracking their names and should not collect information
about their social media, their vehicles and otherwise gather
intelligence about them. “And once that information escapes or is
disseminated from the original collector of it, it can result in all
kinds of predictable harms.”

German also viewed FBI documents obtained by the Wisconsin Examiner
via Freedom of Information Act requests. The records date to early
August 2020, and describe how the FBI received and utilized the list
following an incident outside the home of former officer Mensah.

A protest staged outside the officer’s home resulted in a
confrontation during which one of the marchers fired a gun, causing
the crowd to scatter. Accounts differ as to what occurred
[[link removed]],
with WPD stating one shot was fired but Mensah posting on social media
that several shots were fired. WPD led the investigation into the
incident, which resulted in the swift arrest of several protesters.
Three men later faced charges
[[link removed]] including
battery to a law enforcement officer, harboring a felon, party to a
crime and second degree reckless endangering safety.

The FBI documents state that two days after the incident, Milwaukee PD
shared the protester list with the FBI’s Milwaukee office. The
documents state the Bureau received “a list of individuals that may
have been involved in the 8 August 2020 events at [redacted] home. The
names and date(s) of birth (DOBs) were searched in [redacted] and
through open source methods for a potential nexus to terrorism
cases.” A section also reads: “The information herein has been
determined by the FBI to be pertinent to and within the scope of an
authorized law enforcement activity and should be considered in the
context of the assessment or predicted investigation in which the
information relates.”

 

An example of a challenge coin distributed within the Kenosha Police
Department following the unrest in August, 2020. (Photo | Kenosha
Police Department)

The list itself, however, predates the incident at Mensah’s by at
least several weeks. Additionally, the documents indicate that all the
names on it were checked and placed into an official FBI file
regardless of whether the names were of people present during the
incident or not. Some of those on the list were not protesters at all.

Knowing that those on the list would now be linked to a file, German
wonders why FBI agents and supervisors also didn’t see the list as a
red flag. “This isn’t something that belongs in an FBI file,” he
told the Wisconsin Examiner. “Because this is taking specific
individuals who are identified for being at a protest and implying
they’re involved in some kind of criminal activity. And that can
have long-lasting ramifications when there was no justification for
collecting the list in the first place. Or nothing apparent in the
documents at least.”

In early September 2020, WPD detectives helping lead the Mensah
investigation labeled Wauwatosa’s mayor and others as “higher
value targets” (HVT) for the department. This happened two weeks
before the protester list, which is a different document, was shared
with Kenosha PD. Mayor Dennis McBride was labeled a target for the
investigation due to his perceived support of BLM protests and
meetings with Motley and others.

Following an internal investigation
[[link removed]] into
the HVT PowerPoint earlier this year, Det. Joseph Lewandowski
[[link removed]] was disciplined for
creating the PowerPoint. Lewandowski was then promoted to sergeant
[[link removed]],
and moved out of WPD’s investigative division. Lewandowski was
associated with WPD’s Special Operations Group, and authored other
reports about the mayor’s “questionable conduct” during
protests. McBride condemned the PowerPoint
[[link removed]] after
learning of its existence earlier this year. WPD’s protest
operations occurred under former Chief Barry Weber
[[link removed]],
who retired in June after over 30 years.

Wisconsin Examiner has recently also obtained warrants authored by WPD
that  sought social media information for several protesters
following the August incident at Mensah’s home. The warrants
included everything from private messages to geographic information
dating back to May 25, the day Floyd died in Minneapolis. Protests in
Milwaukee did not begin until four days after Floyd’s death.

In a statement to the Wisconsin Examiner, the FBI said it worked with
WPD and numerous agencies during civil unrest last year. “WPD
provided a list to FBI Milwaukee of individuals assessed to be present
during various incidents of violent activity in their city,” said
FBI Milwaukee spokesperson Leonard Peace. “This information was
shared with FBI by WPD, not requested by the FBI, and any names
checked by the FBI were checked for an authorized investigative
purpose.”

“Receipt and evaluation of this information helps inform appropriate
security personnel who must account for the safety and security of
facilities and personnel,” Peace added. “As an individual or
group’s ability to conduct lawful protests and seek redress from
government is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the US
Constitution, no investigative activity is initiated solely based on
such protected conduct unless some indicia of criminal or terrorist
activity is present.”

The FBI did not answer direct questions regarding whether journalists
or lawyers on the list were targeted with electronic surveillance.

German believes the FBI still holds responsibility for how it used the
list. Although it was shared with the FBI by another agency, German
says, “The FBI agent or analyst made the decision to serialize it
into FBI files and to do these myriad searches against it. Which is
even more problematic because more information could be pulled up that
could be incorrect or misleading in a way that would later justify
some other type of action that should have never been brought in the
first place.” He warns that this “reflects the dangerousness of
creating lists where there is not individualized evidence presented.
Because the FBI doesn’t purge data from its systems except in
extremely rare situations. So this lives basically forever. Certainly
for your lifetime.”

Why weren’t right-wing groups treated the same way?

A former FBI agent himself, German sees a disparity in how BLM
protesters were monitored when compared to armed right-wing groups. In
Kenosha such groups, sometimes called militia, were regarded as
“friendly” by law enforcement
[[link removed]] and
were not arrested, tear-gassed, or told to go home by officers. In
fact, an armored police vehicle was filmed offering one of the groups
water and thanks.

Among the self-styled militia members who descended on Kenosha  was
then-17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-15 style rifle. An
FBI surveillance plane flew over the city while teams of U.S.
Marshals
[[link removed]] operated arrest
and quick response teams
[[link removed]] on
the ground. Officers closely monitored BLM protesters through social
media, even along their highway journeys to Kenosha. The People’s
Revolution is also referenced among text messages sent and received by
former Kenosha PD Chief Daniel Miskinis
[[link removed]] after
the Rittenhouse shooting.

The night of the shooting, officers and dispatch also communicated
about receiving calls about armed groups slashing the tires of BLM
protesters. Half an hour later, Rittenhouse would fatally shoot two
people and wound another. Although Rittenhouse walked towards police
vehicles with his hands raised, officers did not detain the teen who
then left the state. Rittenhouse is currently on trial
[[link removed]] in
Kenosha. About $50 million in property damage occurred during the
Kenosha unrest, though the only known deaths are associated with
Rittenhouse.

FBI and Homeland Security officials didn’t produce threat
intelligence reports
[[link removed]] leading
up to the Jan. 6 unrest and potential insurrection in Washington D.C.
While Wisconsin’s protester list focused on left-wing activism and
BLM, no similar list appears to have been produced of right-wing
protests or the Make America Great Again rallies which occurred in
Wauwatosa last year
[[link removed]].

Rep. Gwen Moore and Sen. Tammy Baldwin have called on the Justice
Department to launch a civil rights probe of the Wauwatosa Police
Department.
[[link removed]]

For German, the revelations about Wisconsin’s protester list relate
to the events of Jan. 6. He says that the handling of the list 
“certainly contradicts the FBI’s post-Jan. 6 claims about its
perceived limits on its ability to monitor social media.”

[WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: Thousands of Donald Trump supporters
storm the United States Capitol building following a "Stop the Steal"
rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. The protesters stormed
the historic building, breaking windows and clashing with police.
Trump supporters had gathered in the nation's capital to protest the
ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory
over President Trump in the 2020 election. (Photo by Spencer
Platt/Getty Images)]
[[link removed]] 

WASHINGTON, DC – Stop the Steal rally and violent mob and the U.S.
Capitol. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“Here they are saying all this public violence by far-right militant
groups that they ignored, all the myriad ways people warned the FBI
including members of Congress, former Justice Department officials
specially calling the FBI to warn them about this…The FBI claims
it’s because they somehow didn’t have the authority to monitor
social media,” he says,  “which is actually false when you look
at their publicly available regulations. But here, clearly, that the
FBI would try to scrutinize protestors’ social media to find some
link to something they call a domestic violent extremist raises all
kinds of questions.”

German feels that the FBI’s use of Wisconsin’s protester list
“reflects the aggression with which the FBI was investigating the
Black Lives Matter and anti-police violence and anti-racism protesters
— all while seemingly ignoring far-right violence that was being
committed in plain sight.”

_Isiah Holmes is a journalist and videographer, and a lifelong
resident of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Holmes' video work dates back to his
high school days at Wauwatosa East High, when he made a documentary
about the local police department. Since then, his writing has been
featured in Urban Milwaukee, Isthmus, Milwaukee Stories, Milwaukee
Neighborhood News Services, Pontiac Tribune, and other outlets._

_The Wisconsin Examiner is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site offering
a fresh perspective on politics and policy in our state. As the
largest news bureau covering state government in Madison, the Examiner
offers investigative reporting and daily coverage dedicated to the
public interest. We take our inspiration from the motto emblazoned on
a ceiling in our state Capitol: “The Will of the People Is the Law
of the Land.”_

_The Examiner is part of States Newsroom
[[link removed]], a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit
supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. We retain
full editorial independence._  

_DONATE  Please help us with this public service. Your donations
allow us to expand our coverage, purchase equipment and fight for open
records.  Your donation is tax-deductible to the fullest extent of
the law._

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