Desert Hot Springs Police Department hosts talks on police technology
DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. (KESQ) – The Desert Hot Springs Police Department addressed concerns about police technology and privacy in a talk with residents Monday night.
Held at the department’s new Police Annex building, the crowd was thin for the discussion.
City leaders said it was scheduled on short notice, but said the conversation was done to be more transparent with the community, especially as nationwide concern continues over the use of automatic license plate readers, like Flock cameras.
Chief Steven Shaw hosted the majority of the presentations. He went through a slideshow that outlined the department’s future spending plans on military equipment, like rifles, an upgraded drone fleet, and a donated armored rescue vehicle, among other items. He spent the most time, though, on two technologies that he said were incredibly beneficial to law enforcement, but carried privacy and misuse concerns from the public: ALPR cameras and drones.
Chief Shaw presents slides on the department’s ALPR cameras
“I want them to know this technology that we’re using that it’s extremely important for law enforcement,” Chief Shaw explained. “But I want them to know how we use it and that we are using it responsibly.”
The chief encouraged the public to ask him questions about the technology. He said much of it can be discussed with the public, and he was open to answering their questions.
Though the crowd was small, they took the chief up on the offer. Joshua Handrich, a resident of the city, drilled the chief – and city council members who were present – with hard questions about the city’s processes and
Handrich was not pleased with the timing of the meeting. He said, “I think it’s disingenuous to call this an effort for transparency when it is a make up for something we didn’t do right the first time, when there should have been an opportunity for transparency that was missed.”
He said the city had missed the mark when approving the use of Flock cameras, dating back to when the first automated license plate readers were rolled out a decade ago. City leaders disagreed.
Either way, as a resident, Handrich said more work needed to be done to bridge the gap between the community and those in power.
“I think, really, it needs to be building trust based on honesty,” he said. “The genuine thing to do would be to suspend operation of the surveillance technologies that we have implemented illegally, give the community an idea of where they’ve been used, where they’ve been misused, [and] where we stand now.”
Chief Shaw said that type of dialogue is what he was looking for. He said he’s eager to host another session and is hopeful to see more in attendance.
“I would have loved that if there were 50 people here. And I wish more people would be engaged and come. And we will do more of these outreaches so folks can come, but that’s what we want. I don’t know if I’m doing a good job, unless I hear it from the people that I’m serving,” the chief encouraged.
“I want them to come let me know how I’m doing. Ask me those tough questions. Let me give you the information. Let me explain the processes and the equipment that we’re using. But get involved. We want folks involved.”
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