In July of 2021, Pikes Peak area activists organized a housing rights march to bring awareness to the region’s increasing unaffordability. Lying in wait, however, was the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD); they had been spying on these activists for several years.
CSPD went on to arrest leaders of the march and other activists and then executed a series of invasive searches and seizures. Police officers seized the personal devices of an activist and an organization’s Facebook page, then searched for dubious keywords like “human,” “right” and “cop.” A federal appeals court would later deem this search unconstitutional.
Thouhh Colorado Springs police and the city bore the brunt of legal liability, they did not act alone. The FBI provided critical support in the searches — a clear example of federal officials, acting under color of law, violating the constitutional rights of Coloradans…