MIDDLETON, Wis. (WTAQ) - Pro-life groups and the ACLU are upset that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security collected information on law-abiding protestors in Middleton last year. The assessment showed there was not a threat connected with a possible rally outside a meeting where the UW Hospital board voted to start an abortion clinic at the Madison Surgery Center. But a memo made public in a lawsuit showed that Homeland Security’s intelligence-gathering guidelines were violated.
The memo said information was shared about, “protest groups which posed no threat to homeland security.” As a result, the agency destroyed copies of the assessment – but it was still given to Middleton Police and a State Justice Department intelligence-gathering group. Once that word got out, an attorney for pro-life groups at the rally sought the report from Middleton Police under the state Open Records Law. And they were turned down, saying the report has sensitive law enforcement information.
Middleton Police Captain Noel Kakuske told the AP the assessment was made after they asked state officials for help in identifying possible activities connected with the hospital board meeting – which went off peacefully. Peggy Hamill of Pro-Life Wisconsin says her group is considering legal action to get its hands on the report. She says it’s disturbing that police used the federal government’s security system to, “potentially obstruct free speech.”
