On Black Lives Matter protests last summer in Omaha:

Omaha police monitored activists’ social media posts and events last year, planted undercover officers at a sidewalk chalk-drawing protest and even tracked birthday party plans for a Black protest organizer.

The police discussions and actions were revealed in hundreds of emails that the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska made public Thursday.

The ACLU criticized the actions as biased, unnecessary surveillance of police critics that echoes the “disturbing historical pattern of police monitoring lawful activities of Black civil rights leaders.”

The emails were sent at a time of public protests related to the Black Lives Matter movement.

A request to interview Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer or other police officials Thursday was declined.

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Emails show Omaha police monitoring of activists in 2020 (Omaha World-Herald)