The city of Miami, Florida’s police force is actively
monitoring Hip-Hop artists when they are in town, according to police.
Officers stake out airports, hotels, clubs and
video shoots and have a binder with information on every rapper and their associates.
The six inch binder starts with a picture of
50 Cent and ends with Ja-Rule.
"A lot, if not most rappers belong to a
gang," Miami police Sgt. Rafael Tapanes told the Miami Herald. "We
keep track of their arrests and their associates."
Tapanes said they received the binder and training
from the New York Police Department during a three day Hip-Hop training session
last May.
Officers from other major cities such as Los
Angeles and Atlanta were also present during the sessions.
"They were trained on what to look for in
the lyrics, what to look for when they go to Hip-Hop concerts, what radio stations
and TV stations to monitor to keep abreast of any rift between these rappers."
The police said they started gathering intelligence
in 2001, after over 250,000 people flocked to Miami Beach for Labor Day festivities
and overwhelmed the police force, who didn’t anticipate such a large crowd.
Officials said they became determined to figure
out how Hip-Hop music had gained such an enormous following.
Police gather information from a network of sources,
including off-duty police on security detail, hotel and night club workers and
other sources.
