The Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU) is an organization designed to facilitate intelligence sharing between state and local
law enforcement agencies
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...
. It began in 1956 with 26 members and has since expanded to include roughly 250 members, mostly in the United States but also in Canada, Australia, and South Africa. The organization is divided into four zones: Eastern, Central, Northwestern, and Southwestern. According to its website, LEIU's purpose is to "gather, record, and exchange confidential information not available through regular police channels, concerning organized crime and terrorism."
Since the LEIU is not a government agency, it is not subject to the provisions of the
U.S.
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request:
* Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966
* F ...
or its equivalents in other countries.
In June 2003, the annual meeting of the LEIU in Seattle, Washington was protested by approximately 400 people, resulting in 12 arrests, and
pepper spray
Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, mace, or capsicum spray is a Tear gas, lachrymator (tear gas) product containing as its active ingredient the chemical compound capsaicin, which irritates the eyes with burning ...
ing of demonstrators. "Among the activists' concerns" were "post-9/11 laws such as the USA Patriot Act, which gives the government expanded powers to use wiretaps, electronic surveillance and other methods of information gathering."
See also
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Fusion center
In the United States, fusion centers are designed to promote information sharing at the federal level between agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Justice, and sta ...
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Informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...
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International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts
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Law Enforcement Information Exchange
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Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative
The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative (NSI) is a program of the United States government used to collect and share reports of suspicious activity by people in the United States. The Nationwide SAR Initiative (NSI) builds o ...
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Political repression
Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...
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Red Squads
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Regional Information Sharing Systems
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Snitch
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Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...
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Surveillance abuse
References
Further reading
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Supreme Court of California, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation v. Deukmejian
External links
*http://www.leiu.org/
International law enforcement organizations
Intelligence agencies
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