EXPLAINER: Rittenhouse plane part of widespread surveillance

By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The FBI surveillance plane that captured footage of the night Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people during a protest against police brutality in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year was part of a wider government strategy to keep tabs on demonstrations against racial injustice. Air Force documents indicate the National Guard used surveillance planes to watch over protests in Washington, Minneapolis, Phoenix and California following George Floyd’s death in May 2020. An Associated Press review in 2015 found the FBI and federal drug enforcement agents have been using aircraft equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment for years. Civil rights advocates say such surveillance can have a chilling effect on political gatherings but it’s legal as long as it only tracks people in public.