Tags: InfraLynx, US Navy, Surveillance
Publication: WJLA.com
Publication Date: 06/18/2013

InfraLynx vehicle and the Washington, DC Metropolitain Police Department. Image credit: Infralynx

Details about the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia’s (MPDC) arrangement with the Naval Research Laboratory are developing as part of a lawsuit by people taken into custody during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Lawyers for the activists and others involved in the arrests cite the deal with the U.S. Navy as an example of fanatical police preparation and response to the first amendment right to protest.

The Navy technology – called the InfraLynx system – included trucks equipped with satellite dishes and antennae designed to make it easier for police to transmit data. According to a Navy website, similar technology was used for the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and following Hurricane Katrina.

Former D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey said the Navy was contacted as a contingency and he does not remember the equipment being used. However, the agreement echoes the nervousness police felt about demonstrations taking place in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There was a great deal of concern that terrorists could use a large-scale event to do something in Washington.

Records show a satellite uplink facility was added to a “domestic preparedness” spending plan that included chemical masks, night vision scopes and a planning visit to the New York Police Department. Police placed numerous cameras on top of buildings and in other locations to monitor the demonstrations, surveillance that has emerged as a focal point of the court case.

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