The Aaron Swartz Day Police Surveillance Project is a public records project that seeks to find out and transparently report on surveillance equipment in use in the State of California.
The project has filed over 200 public records requests with several California cities and counties including Sacramento, San Diego, Monterey, Ventura, Fresno, Long Beach, Oxnard, Calexico and Bakersfield.
One of the items being researched is MOU’s with other law enforcement agencies. Calexico participates in Operation Stonegarden, a DHS program that deputizes police officers in border-adjacent counties to assist Customs and Border Patrol. California passed the California Values Act -SB 54 (“sanctuary state”) legislation in the fall of 2017 limiting the state’s role in immigration enforcement. Imperial County’s MOU was signed after SB54 was enacted by former Governor Jerry Brown in October of 2017.
Operation Stonegarden has been controversial in other parts of the county, with the Pima County Board of Supervisors in Arizona rejecting their MOU in September of 2018.
Calexico’s Operation Stonegarden 2017-2020 Agreement
Agreement_for_the_Fiscal_year_2017_Operation_Stonegarden_Grant_Program