A data scientist in Florida is recounting a terrifying early morning visit she received today from officers with their guns drawn. According to the Tallahassee Democrat:
State police brandishing firearms raided the home of Rebekah Jones, the former Department of Health data scientist who built the state’s much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to “manipulate data.”
Jones detailed what happened on Twitter.
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They took my phone and the computer I use every day to post the case numbers in Florida, and school cases for the entire country.
They took evidence of corruption at the state level.
They claimed it was about a security breach.
This was DeSantis.
He sent the gestapo.
— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020
She went on to write:
This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power. I tell them my husband and my two children are upstairs… and THEN one of them draws his gun. On my children. This is Desantis’ Florida.
If Desantis thought pointing a gun in my face was a good way to get me to shut up, he’s about to learn just how wrong he was.
I’ll have a new computer tomorrow.
And then I’m going to get back to work.
If you want to help, my website is still at https://t.co/JbQtrVbRuv
— Rebekah Jones (@GeoRebekah) December 7, 2020
The Tallahassee Democrat says that “Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger sent a statement confirming the seizure of computer equipment at Jones’s Tallahassee home and said agents are investigating.”
Plessinger said, “FDLE began an investigation November 10, 2020, after receiving a complaint from the Department of Health regarding unauthorized access to a Department of Health messaging system which is part of an emergency alert system, to be used for emergencies only.”
https://twitter.com/mmasnick/status/1336074766562705408