The Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) is apparently once again attempting to engage in surveillance of "activist" groups, with the most recent incident following three arrests at a recent Critical Mass bike ride. On June 28, Officer Horrigan of the GRPD attempted to subscribe to the Critical Mass email list using his GRPD provided email address. Officer Horrigan was the one who initially stopped Critical Mass and behaved the most agressively when making arrests.

While the Critical Mass email list is public and it is not a particularly serious form of surveillance compared to the GRPD's actions last winter when they infiltrated meetings and photographed antiwar protestors, it is certainly worth noting. It is possible that this move is an outgrowth of comments made by one of the officers last Friday who told the group that "we are not going to have you doing this all summer." In the past, GRPD Chief Harry Dolan has admited that the GRPD used the internet to get "intelligence" about upcoming protests.