[Scan-DC] Local media speak out after losing access to Eastern Riverside County

[Alan Henney]

Web article has photos with captions, links and a copy of the proposed
agreement.

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2019/01/11/palm-springs-area-police-radio-system-meets-after-decision-blocking-media-access/2535577002/

‘That was a news blackout.’ Local media speak out after losing access to
police radios

By, Amy DiPierro, USA TODAY NETWORK

January 12, 2019 Saturday
   1 Edition

Local media leaders warned of the consequences of shutting out news
organizations from the police radio system covering five area cities at a
Jan. 10 meeting of the agency that manages the system.

The Eastern Riverside County Interoperable Communications Authority, or
ERICA, operates the encrypted radio channels used by local police in
Beaumont, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indio and Palm Springs. In
November, the governmental body decided to limit the radio system to law
enforcement personnel, ending access previously granted to local
journalists.

Julie Makinen, Desert Sun executive editor, said she wonders how the
Coachella Valley would fare in a disaster scenario like the Paradise Fire
as a result.

“I think about what would happen if something similar like that happened in
our valley,” Makinen said. “And in absence of scanner traffic, you guys are
going to be so busy trying to help the public, you’re not going to have
time to put out a press release and tweet and do all that stuff that needs
to happen.”

At the meeting of ERICA’s Technical Advisory Committee, held in Cathedral
City Hall, leaders from NBC Palm Springs and KESQ also defended their
organizations’ sensitivity to privacy concerns and argued that the police
radios are a crucial first alert, especially during mass emergencies and
natural disasters. Following the comments, Palm Springs City Manager David
Ready, the committee’s vice chair, suggested inviting representatives of
the California Department of Justice to address ERICA and the media.

ERICA’s Executive Director and city officials from its member agencies have
said allowing the media to access ERICA ran afoul of California Department
of Justice rules governing a database law enforcement use to search
criminal records and other information. ERICA officials said DOJ would cut
them off from the database if they continued allowing media outlets to tune
into encrypted transmissions.

But emails obtained by The Desert Sun through a public records request show
only one instance of direct contact between ERICA or its member agencies
and DOJ prior to the body’s decision to revoke media access. The agency
began to discuss reforming its agreement with the media in October 2017,
citing instances in which media personnel arrived at investigation scenes
prior to law enforcement personnel. A year later, in October, a DOJ
representative emailed excerpts of California DOJ and FBI policy to an
officer in Palm Springs, who had been doing research independent of ERICA.

Local media leaders spoke before a regular meeting of ERICA’s advisory
committee, which includes city staff and police officials.

“Access to the scanner allows us to ask the right questions. Then we have
to decide what information to report and when to report it,” said Timothy
Kiley, assistant news director at KESQ. “We always make it a priority to
protect the privacy and rights of those we report on.”

Trino Martinez, the assistant news director at NBC Palm Springs, said the
station experienced what it’s like to report without police radios in
December, after a local school received a bomb threat. As parents contacted
the television station in search of information, “we didn’t know what to
tell them,” Martinez said.

“We had no scanners, we had no way of communicating with law enforcement or
anyone who could provide us with information about what was happening,” he
added. “That was a news blackout. We were in the dark as much as the
parents, and that potentially is very dangerous.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Ready suggested ERICA invite a
representative of the Department of Justice to attend an ERICA meeting “to
explain.”

“I know the City Council in Palm Springs, if there's some way to provide
access, they certainly want to do that,” he said.

Kari Mendoza, ERICA executive director, said she thought DOJ would advise
ERICA to give media access to a channel where there is no information from
the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, or CLETS.

ERICA’s legal counsel, Lena Wade, said she would reach out to the
Department of Justice to inquire about arranging the meeting.

SEND US TIPS: You can send news tips, comments and questions to Desert Sun
reporter Amy DiPierro at amy.dipierro at desertsun.com or 760-218-2359.

Since it launched in 2010, ERICA had allowed The Desert Sun, KESQ, NBC Palm
Springs and City News Service to listen to its encrypted transmissions by
purchasing special equipment.

Mendoza said ERICA member agencies started reconsidering the policy in
October 2017.

In September, ERICA sent The Desert Sun a new user agreement, which would
have established “rules of engagement” for members of the media responding
to breaking news scenes and prohibited them from publishing information
from ERICA unless they obtained the broadcast through a record request or
received written verification from ERICA.

The Desert Sun, NBC Palm Springs and KESQ did not sign the agreement,
believing it to be overly restrictive.

In October, a DOJ representative sent an officer of the Palm Springs Police
Department excerpts from FBI and California Department of Justice policy,
including CLETS rules.

The rules quoted in the email define access to information from CLETS as
“the ability to hear or view any information provided through the CLETS.”
The same section says information from CLETS is on a “right-to-know” and
“need-to-know” basis and that releasing information from CLETS for non-law
enforcement purposes “is subject to administrative action and/or criminal
prosecution.”

In an email to colleagues at ERICA, the officer said DOJ “was adamant that
there is no exception for the media with regard to hearing this information
if they do not meet the CLETS guidelines.”

On Nov. 8, the Technical Advisory Committee unanimously decided to limit
the radio system to law enforcement.

Mendoza exchanged emails with a DOJ representative over email following the
publication of articles in the local media about the policy change on Dec.
5.

“I got confirmation that we made the right decision,” Mendoza said of a
conversation with a DOJ representative before the email exchange, which
does not discuss media access to ERICA.

In an emailed statement, the California Department of Justice said it “has
always been the case that only authorized personnel may have access for
criminal justice purposes to any channels where CLETS data is being
broadcast. The CA DOJ did not ask ERICA to revoke media’s access to ERICA."

Police use radio to communicate about crime, traffic and disasters. Some
agencies have encrypted radio transmissions in recent years to prevent the
disclosure of private information and block criminals from eavesdropping.
Others have compromised, allowing the media to listen to channels the
general public cannot hear.

Professional journalists are typically trained to use police radios as a
way to prompt further inquiry and do not publish unverified information
broadcast over the radios, which could be inaccurate, sensitive or
dangerous to first responders.

Amy DiPierro is a reporter at The Desert Sun. Reach her at
amy.dipierro at desertsun.com or 760-218-2359. Follow her on Twitter,
@amydipierro.