Bob CollinsThis is the kind of suspicious activity that can get you an interview with the FBI. The video was shot from the parking ramp at the Mall of America.
The Center for Investigative Reporting has pulled the curtain back from the world of counterterrorism at the Mall of America.
Their story, which is posted on its website and airs on NPR this afternoon, says many Mall of America visitors have ended up in counterterror reports without their knowledge, after private security officers interviewed them.
The report raises the possibility that the mall guards are using racial and ethnic profiling, a charge the mall denies.
In some cases, the questioning appears to have the hallmarks of profiling – something that officials at the mall deny. In nearly two-thirds of the cases reviewed, subjects are described as African American, people of Asian and Arabic descent, and other minorities, according to an analysis of the documents.
Mall spokesman Dan Jasper said the private security guards would not conduct interviews based on racial or ethnic characteristics because “we may miss someone who truly does have harmful intent.”
A mall spokesman, however, acknowledged to the reporters that the guards’ activities “may infringe on freedoms.”
“We’re charged with trying to keep people safe. We’re trying to do it the best way we can. You may be questioned at the Mall of America about suspicious activity. It’s something that may happen. It’s part of today’s society,” mall spokesman Dan Jasper said in a statement.
Here’s an example of a report that ended up in the hands of law enforcement. The suspicious behavior? The man took pictures inside the mall.
“For all the 30 years that I have lived in the United States, I’ve never been a suspect,” said Emil Khalil of California. After being questioned for taking pictures, the FBI stopped him and his brother at the airport for more questioning.
Another man, an Army veteran, was “caught” videotaping in the mall. He was questioned for two hours, the report said.
(Francis) Van Asten said it was not clear to him at the time why he was stopped. After all, he was told nothing prohibited him from taking photographs or footage of the mall. But the mall’s guards still called Bloomington police, and they alerted the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force. Van Asten was given a pat-down search, and the FBI demanded that his memory card be confiscated “for further analysis.”
Exhausted and rattled, Van Asten had trouble finding his car after the ordeal was over.
“I sat down in my car and I cried, and I was shaking like a leaf,” Van Asten said in an interview at his home. “That kind of sensation doesn’t leave you real quickly when you’ve had an experience like that.”
Another person was questioned because he was writing in a notebook while waiting for his lunch date.
“Before the male would write in his notebook, it appeared as though he would look at his watch. Periodically, the male would briefly look up from his notebook, look around, and then continue writing,” the security guards’ report said.
Subsequently, he was photographed, his information recorded, and he ended up in a police report as a person of interest.
“Everybody that lives in this country,” one mall visitor said, “is a person of interest as far as these reports are concerned.”
There’s no indication that any terrorist activity has been uncovered at the mall.
Ever been questioned at the Mall of America? Tell me about it below.
