DHS accused of using financial data for predictive policing, sparking constitutional controversy

According to CoinDesk, the Predictive Intelligence Targeting Team (PITT) under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been reported to collect U.S. citizens' financial transaction records through the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and provide leads on "potential suspects" to local law enforcement agencies. Multiple cases have shown that citizens were stopped and searched without having committed any criminal offenses. Laz Pieper, a researcher at Coin Center, criticized the practice as violating the Fourth Amendment and called on Congress to direct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct an independent audit of the DHS's data sources, targeting criteria, and false positive rates, while also requiring federal agencies to obtain judicial authorization before accessing sensitive financial records.