Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, FBI, DHS and the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC) have developed this unified message to describe the role of law enforcement to protect public safety during our elections. Although we have no known threats at this time, we are asking for the public’s assistance with addressing crime and threats in our community from those that may be planning violence or attempting to disrupt the election. Public safety measures can only be effective when they involve strong collaboration between law enforcement and the communities that we serve.  All federal, state and local public safety and election officials are united in efforts to make this election safe.

“We want to make sure that people do feel safe. We are not going to allow voter intimidation, election interference and those kinds of things,” Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said. “We will not tolerate those misdemeanor and felony offenses related to elections here in Humboldt County.”

One way you can help keep Humboldt County safe this week is by reporting suspicious activity.  Suspicious activity reporting is a concept in which law enforcement and homeland security leaders have partnered with communities to create a strategy that unifies the work of agencies and organizations in identifying and sharing information reasonably indicative of preoperational planning associated with terrorism or other criminal activity, while protecting privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. With your help, law enforcement will have the ability to identify and stop potential threats of violence in your community.

“If your plan is to vote on Election Day, please do that. You should not have any kind of fear,” Sheriff Honsal said. “However, if someone does see something suspicious, they should report it. I don’t want people to intervene with something that they may believe is a law violation. That’s what law enforcement is for. So please call law enforcement if you see anything suspicious, if you see potential laws being broken. Let us deal with that, de-escalate it and take care of it.” 

REPORTING SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITIES OR THREATS OF VIOLENCE: 

The public should contact law enforcement via 9-1-1 when an immediate response is needed regarding suspicious activity for any type of crime, including terrorism. Your local law enforcement agency will share your reporting with the NCRIC and FBI.

We are asking the public to call 9-1-1 if they see any of the following suspicious behavior:

  • Breach/Attempted Intrusion
    • Unauthorized personnel attempting to enter or actually entering a restricted area, secured protected site, or nonpublic area. Impersonation of authorized personnel (e.g., police/security officers, janitor, or other personnel).
  • Misrepresentation
    • Presenting false information or misusing insignia, documents, and/or identification to misrepresent one’s affiliation as a means of concealing possible illegal activity.
  • Theft/Loss/Diversion
    • Stealing or diverting something associated with a facility/infrastructure or secured protected site (e.g., badges, uniforms, identification, emergency vehicles, technology, or documents {classified or unclassified}), which are proprietary to the facility/infrastructure or secured protected site.
  • Sabotage/Tampering/Vandalism
    • Damaging, manipulating, defacing, or destroying part of a facility/infrastructure or secured protected site.
  • Cyber Attack
    • Compromising, or attempting to compromise or disrupt an organization’s information technology infrastructure.
  • Expressed or Implied Threat
    • Communicating a spoken or written threat to commit a crime that will result in death or bodily injury to another person or persons or to damage or compromise a facility/infrastructure or secured protected site.
  • Weapons Collection/ Discovery
    • Collection or discovery of unusual amounts or types of weapons*, including explosives, chemicals, and other destructive materials, or evidence, detonations or other residue, wounds, or chemical burns, that would arouse suspicion of terrorism or other criminality in a reasonable person.

* This activity is not inherently criminal behavior and is a constitutionally protected activity that must not be documented by law enforcement in a suspicious activity report that contains personal identifying information (PII), unless there are articulable facts or circumstances that clearly support the determination that the behavior observed is not innocent, but rather reasonably indicative of pre-operational planning associated with terrorism or other criminal activity.

Race, ethnicity, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity must not be considered as factors for reporting (but attributes may be shared in specific suspect descriptions for identification purposes only).

“One thing I just love Humboldt County for is their diverse views and our open mindedness,” Sheriff Honsal said. “I really want to appeal to everyone here that no matter how the election turns out- you may be happy, you may be angry- we don’t want to turn any of that into a violent reaction. I’m optimistic here in Humboldt County that we’re going to get through this and there’s not going to be any major issues.”

Please join us in keeping Humboldt County safe this Election Day.