Nipsey Hussle Was Targeted By Secret Police Operation

Nipsey Hussle had purchased the plaza where his Marathon Store was located and had big plans to renovate the site. At the same time, police were pressuring the property landlords to evict Nipsey. There was much more to the story. Nipsey Hussle was being monitored and harassed as part of a secret LAPD initiative, Operation Laser (Los Angeles Strategic Extraction and Restoration). 

Operation Laser was specifically designed to target and profile "chronic offenders" through predictive policing technology, according to Michael Safi, a reporter for the Guardian. The area where Nipsey had set up shop was believed to attract crime but through artificial intelligence and predictive policing technology, suspects could be identified and crimes stopped before they happened. The merits– ethically and constitutionally– of these practices can be debated but for Nipsey Hussle, his business partners, and customers, the net effect was harassment. 

Entrepreneurs focused on building up the hood must be left alone: by people up to no good and by the state. Those individuals who break into stores, bring elements of crime or simply disruption to a business have to back off. But the powers that be must also do the same. Both elements can kill commerce, or much worse.