DHS is reportedly using Americans’ financial records to predict future crimes. Then it hands the names to local police for traffic stops

404 Media reported that a Department of Homeland Security unit is reviewing Americans’ financial records in an effort to flag people who might commit crimes. The publication said the unit then passes those names to local police, who use the information during traffic stops.

The teams operate under the name Predictive Intelligence Targeting Teams, or PITT. According to 404 Media, they supply intelligence to local departments. Officers then stop drivers who are not tied to any particular crime under investigation, the outlet reported.

Kyle Olson’s drive across Montana became one example cited by the publication. Officers stopped him and said his license plate was blocked from view. He later faced a DUI charge, 404 Media reported.

Documents from a Montana traffic stop described how a Border Patrol team shared financial data

404 Media said court and agency paperwork from Olson’s case first revealed the unit. Olson was given a DHS document that laid out why he was stopped. Border Patrol Agent Matthew Phelps authored that document. The paper identified him as assigned to the “Spokane Sector Border Patrol Targeting & Intelligence Division (TID) – Predictive Intelligence Targeting Team (PITT).”

In the document, Phelps said his work includes checking “law enforcement–sensitive databases,” among them financial activity, and assembling intelligence that is later given to local police. He provided “information contained within law enforcement-sensitive systems suggesting financial activity patterns commonly associated with illicit narcotics activity,” the document stated. Montana Highway Patrol received that material and then stopped Olson.

Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. James Beck wrote, “It was relayed to me by U.S. Border Patrol targeting analyst Matthew Phelps that he had identified a vehicle that had indicators of possible narcotics trafficking.” 404 Media reported that Olson was carrying marijuana edibles, marijuana cuttings, and butane hash oil from his work at a licensed cannabis farm in California. He was taking those items home to Wisconsin, the publication said.

404 Media reported that one PITT team works out of the Spokane, Washington, area along the Canadian border. For DHS, data-sharing concerns extend beyond border enforcement, as ICE was reportedly ordered to delete Medicaid data on millions of people but instead sent that data to Palantir.   

Another operates near Laredo, Texas, close to Mexico. Customs and Border Protection, a DHS agency, already relies on automatic license plate readers. Those readers are built into the same predictive tactics, the outlet reported.

404 Media said the program is presented as a way to locate people who may already have broken the law. The government instead appears to be using the predictions as a basis for stops and detentions, 404 Media reported. Border Patrol would not say what financial activity it tracks or whether agents had a warrant for Olson’s stop.

A CBP spokesperson told 404 Media in an email that “U.S. Border Patrol uses intelligence-informed analysis and planning to support national security operations, allocate resources, and help identify potential threats and bad actors to public safety. These efforts are conducted consistent with applicable law, policy, privacy protections, and oversight requirements.”

The same statement added, “For operational security reasons, we do not discuss specific analytical methods, data sources, targeting criteria, investigative techniques, system capabilities, or deployment details. Public disclosure of such information could compromise law enforcement operations and investigations as well as creating safety risks for agents and the public.”