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How far should the Eureka Police Department take crime surveillance in the city?

At Tuesday’s meeting, the Eureka City Council weighed the pros and cons of a proposal from the Eureka Police Department to install 21 automated license plate-reading (ALPR) cameras along the city’s main thoroughfares. After an extensive conversation, the council ultimately voted to table its decision due to privacy concerns.

The technology, which would be provided by Flock Safety, collects license plate details for every car that passes and stores that information in a database that allows law enforcement agencies to compare license plate numbers against stolen vehicles or individuals wanted on criminal charges. ALPR does not use facial recognition technology and the data is deleted after 30 days. 

EPD Police Chief Brian Stephens presented the draft ALPR policy – linked here – to the council on Tuesday and explained how community policing has changed since the turn of the century. “It’s not as easy to police as it was,” he said. “We can’t just put officers on the street … and expect that we’re going to get the results that we want or the results that we may have seen 20 years ago.”

That said, Stephens emphasized that EPD will “always need officers on the street,” but said Flock’s ALPR technology “truly has the capability to be a force multiplier” for the department.

Stephens | Screenshot

“We will be able to locate vehicles associated with crimes committed in our region quicker,” he continued. “We can use this technology as an investigative tool to further investigations after a crime has been committed within our city, give our investigators quicker leads and reduce the time a suspect is potentially on the loose to victimize others in our community.”

EPD’s draft policy was modeled after the Vallejo Police Department’s ALPR policy and best practices issued by Lexipol, a Texas-based company that provides policy guidelines and training standards for law enforcement agencies across the country, Stephens said. The data collected through the ALPR program would be stored in a “secured cloud base” that would only be accessible by certain EPD staff.

“Remember, all the system is collecting is vehicle description and license plate, nothing else,” Stephens said. “[The data] is not owned by Flock, and Flock can’t access the data for their purposes. Only EPD can determine who has access to the data. Therefore, Flock Safety cannot sell or share this data with third parties, and this will be a part of our contract.”

Speaking via Zoom, Flock’s Community Affairs Manager Jonathan Paz said the company uses “end-to-end encryption,” a security method that prevents third parties from accessing data while it is being transferred from one system or device to another. “Let’s say the DMV is hacked – they’re not going to have access to our system,” Paz said. “We are end-to-end encrypted and manage our own system.”

Paz also shared a few success stories from the 400-plus law enforcement agencies that contract with Flock Safety. He recalled one instance in which ALPR technology helped local police officers track down three individuals who had brutally assaulted a man in the Bay Area. Investigators got hold of a possible license plate for the suspect vehicle, ran it through the Flock system and, about a month-and-a-half after the assault, were able to track down and arrest the suspects. 

Paz also claimed that San Merino, a city in Los Angeles County, has seen a “70 percent decrease in residential burglaries” after increasing the number of ALPR cameras in the city. 

“I can go on and on,” he said.

However, Flock’s success stories weren’t compelling enough to convince the city council, all of whom shared concerns about privacy and data sharing. 

Councilmember Scott Bauer asked Paz to expand on the data protection measures Flock Safety employs and whether the company uses facial recognition technology.

“None of your personal data is actually being stored,” Paz said. “The only data that would actually be kept would be your vehicle fingerprint. … If there was a capture of a red Honda, the most data that would be shared that would be affiliated with you would be potentially your license plate, which is owned by the state, technically. So, not saying that there isn’t a concern there, but there is no personal information being stored within our systems.”

Councilmember Kati Moulton asked Paz several questions about data protection and the physical location of the company’s servers. Paz said the company’s IT department is based in Georgia but noted that they also partner with Amazon for data storage. 

“So, if law enforcement in another state – or in our state or anywhere at all – got a warrant to ask Amazon for information from Eureka, circumventing the EPD… and your company itself and going directly after the storage that is now in a fourth party’s hands. … What’s to stop that from happening?” Moulton asked.

Paz seemed hesitant to speak to the hypothetical situation but said Flock Safety would honor its contract with the City of Eureka “regardless of whatever pending litigation is happening.”

“That data we consider to be yours, and we’re helping monitor and help preserve it,” he added. “But we have a contractual obligation to hard delete after 30 days.”

Councilmember Leslie Castellano asked about immigration law and whether the ALPR system would allow an out-of-state department to track an individual “for immigration reasons.” 

The city’s draft policy “does not permit the sharing of ALPR data gathered by the city or its contractors/subcontractors for purpose of federal immigration enforcement,” in accordance with state law. Even if state law were to change, Stephens said the city’s policy would not be affected.

“I think the policy is clear that it won’t be used … to track anyone or to share information for immigration purposes,” he said. “If I’m the chief at that time, if something gets rolled back, it’s not going to change the reasons why we want and need the system. I still wouldn’t report that information for that purpose.”

Castellano also asked about the projected cost of the ALPR program and whether it would increase over time. Eureka City Manager Miles Slattery said the city is looking at a two-year agreement with Flock that would cost about $74,000 for installation and monitoring services in the first year and $60,000 in subsequent years.

“If it gets to the point where it can’t fit within our budget, or if it gets to the point at which it’s not within staff’s purview under the procurement policy – which is $100,000 – that purchase would have to come back to council,” Slattery added.

Castellano noted that the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office recently implemented its own ALPR program and asked if Eureka’s cameras would be redundant. Stephens said HCSO does not currently have cameras “near the ingress and egress points of the city.” 

At one point in the discussion, Moulton suggested that the city’s Community Oversight on Police Practices (COPP) board and the City Attorney’s Office review the draft policy before the council makes a final decision on the matter. Her suggestion was echoed by the rest of the council.

City Attorney Autumn Luna said she felt it would be most appropriate for her office to address the legal issues brought up during the council’s discussion before sending the proposed policy over to the COPP board for review. Luna added that it would probably take a few months to “really flesh out” all of the issues raised at the meeting.

After a bit of additional discussion, the council voted 5-0 to table the discussion until the City Attorney’s Office and the city’s COPP board had a chance to review the ALPR policy.

Video: Andrew Goff

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PREVIOUSLY: County Looks to Rein in Yee Haw, the Trinidad-Area Commune With a Long History of Health and Safety Code Violations

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Shortly after 10 o’clock this morning, a crew of Humboldt County staffers showed up outside the gate of the Yee Haw “intentional living” commune southeast of Trinidad, inspection warrant in hand, and proceeded to survey the sprawling community of “hippie-rigged” structures nestled in the redwoods to see if what progress has been made toward addressing a set of longstanding code violations.

Last week, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors approved a 39-week plan to abate those violations, which include a variety of allegedly dangerous living conditions, including structures built in violation of building, plumbing and/or electrical codes; improper storage of junk vehicles and solid waste; the use of mobile homes and trailers as living quarters; and non-approved water and sewage systems.

Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone was also on hand, and he proceeded to act as an ambassador, of sorts, for the commune’s 30-plus residents, who include young adults, families with children, seniors and several people with handicaps.

As Humboldt County Planning and Building Director John Ford arrived, flanked by county code inspectors, building department officials, Environmental Health Director Mario Kalson and a private land surveyor, Madrone informed them that the residents of Yee Haw would like staff to present their inspection warrant, merely as a formality.

“Thanks for coming without law enforcement to this peaceful community,” Madrone said to the assembled staffers. “We appreciate that. And I’m here to just make sure we do all stay peaceful.”

Madrone declared that what’s important at this point is making progress. “I think that’s what the goal is on everybody’s mind, including the community. I know they absolutely want to see progress because they value living here,” he said.

Property owner Charles Garth, who has allowed this loosely organized commune to exist and build on his land for nearly four decades, was not present when county staff arrived, though he showed up a couple of hours later. 

Standing in the property’s gravel driveway encircled by residents, surveyor Michael Pulley, president and co-owner of Points West Surveying, unfolded a large satellite image of the property, which abuts a rock quarry owned by Mercer-Fraser Co., and talked about the difficulty in establishing the precise property lines.

Ford, meanwhile, sought to put residents at ease. 

“Just for today’s visit, we’re really here just to understand,” he said. “Today is really about gathering data and just understanding what’s here [and] what progress has been made.” Per an agreement with residents, Ford had agreed that county staff would not be entering any of the property’s residences today.

Some of the residents told the Outpost that they’ve been working hard in recent days to clean up the property, haul out junk and get non-operating vehicles towed away ahead of today’s inspection.

Over the course of the next several hours, staff walked slowly through the property, advancing along pathways through the redwood forest to a series of living areas. Many of the housing structures have been built atop and around old busses and RVs. Others are trailers or shacks, with siding and walls assembled from a wide variety of materials. (One, dubbed “the checkerboard house,” has siding of rectangular metal shingles that, upon closer inspection, have been cut from the housing of old Dell computers.)

Code Enforcement Officer Shauna Soeth circled around vehicles and trailers with a digital camera, checking tires for air pressure, inspecting the scrap metal piled in old truck beds and asking whether vehicles were operational. Code inspectors affixed neon-yellow tags on the inoperable ones, giving Garth and/or the registered vehicle owners just 10 days to get them moved off the property — though Ford later said he expects the citations to be appealed, which will inevitably prolong the timeline.

Madrone expressed confidence that the code violations can be successfully addressed within the county’s timeline, and that Garth can apply for a rezone of his property that might allow the commune to be reclassified as an emergency housing shelter. Such a reclassification would only be allowed as long as the county’s current declared housing emergency remains in effect.

But regardless of the progress made, Madrone said that evicting the Yee Haw residents and “putting them out on the street” would do nothing to address the relevant safety issues. Specifically he noted that the Yee Haw community does not tolerate hard drug usage, which proliferates among the county’s homeless.

Kalson, the environmental health inspector, surveyed a leach field that’s connected to one of the property’s two operating septic systems. The county officials gazed up at a PG&E power pole that stands at the edge of a clearing near some of the residences. 

While the county officials did their walkthrough, several of the residents tagged along in a loose entourage while others went about their lives. A group of children played in a sunny clearing while a woman strummed an acoustic guitar and a man blew into a flute. Dogs, a cat and at least one hen darted in and out of the pathway.

During one stretch, a young resident in a wheelchair used their cell phone to play John Williams’ Star Wars bad-guy composition “The Imperial March” on repeat — perhaps as commentary on the inspection proceedings.

When the inspection was nearing its end, Garth appeared and joined the retinue. Leaning on a walking stick, he spoke softly, complaining of pain from a recent fall and saying he didn’t know whether or not he’d make it here from his residence down the hill in Trinidad.

Asked his thoughts about what the county is asking of him, Garth said, “I never really fully understand what they want me to do here anyway, and I think it changes, too.”

Asked specifically about the 10 code violations that the county enumerated during last week’s meeting, Garth again expressed confusion. 

“I don’t know what the county means, anyway,” he said. “I got fined already.”

Was the timeline unclear?

Garth insisted that the county hasn’t proven its “allegations” and said some of the code violations are “bogus.” He talked about work he’d been doing on the property’s well in 2017 when county staff inspected the place and cited that infrastructure as a code violation, along with a power line that was lying on the ground. He insisted that he’d fixed both issues within the required 10-day period and yet still got fined for the violations.

Garth also lamented the trouble he’s had with legal representation (two of his attorneys have died), and he tried arguing with a couple of inspectors before taking a seat in a forested area with Madrone.

Ford said he expects the inspection report will be presented to the board sometime next month.

Press release from KEET-TV:

With the November 5, 2024, Presidential General Election quickly approaching, the League of Women Voters of Humboldt County has teamed up with KEET-PBS to present two live, in-depth candidate forums. These forums are your chance to hear directly from local candidates and make an informed decision on your ballot.

Both forums will be broadcast and streamed live from the KEET studio in Eureka and from the Redwood Community Radio, KMUD in Garberville. The programs will be available afterward on Access Humboldt and KEET’s YouTube Channel. Community members are encouraged to call in their questions for the candidates to 707-445-0811 during the live forums.

Live Broadcast Schedule:

• Eureka City Council Candidate Forum Wards 2 and 4
  • Date: October 14, 2024

  • Time: 7:00 - 8:00 PM

  • Ward 2 Candidates:
    • Kati Moulton
    • Kenny Carswell

  • Ward 4 Candidates:
    • Thavisak Syphanthong
    • Scott Bauer

• California State Assembly Candidate Forum District 2
  • Date: October 16, 2024

  • Time: 7:00 - 8:00 PM

  • Candidates:
    • Mike Greer
    • Chris Rogers

These forums are a crucial opportunity for North Coast voters to get to know the candidates and their positions on key issues.

Where to Watch and Listen:

• Live Broadcast: KEET-TV and KMUD stations in Garberville

• Replay: Access Humboldt & KEET’s YouTube Channel

• Live Radio Stream: Redwood Community Radio, KMUD
  • 91.1 FM (Garberville)

  • 88.1 FM (Eureka)

  • 90.3 FM (Laytonville)

  • 99.5 FM (Shelter Cove)

Don’t miss this opportunity to stay informed and engaged as we head toward Election Day. Your vote shapes the future—make it count!

For more information, visit KEET.org or follow KEET on social media for updates.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) needs the public’s help to locate missing person Dylan Stout, age 25, of McKinleyville. Stout was last seen in the Kneeland area on Friday, Sept. 27 around 2:50 p.m. by an HCSO deputy when a pursuit was initiated on a stolen vehicle that Stout was believed to be driving. 

Stout was reported missing by a family member on the morning of Oct. 2, stating that he hasn’t been seen since before a Sept. 27 incident involving a crashed stolen vehicle. On Sept. 27, following a pursuit by HCSO deputies, the stolen vehicle that Stout was driving crashed through a closed metal gate, then continued forward and proceeded to crash into a bank where the vehicle rolled onto its roof. Upon law enforcement’s arrival to the vehicle, no occupants were located. Deputies conducted a search including a specialized K-9, but Stout was not located; he has not been seen since.

Stout in 2022.

As of Oct. 2, Dylan Stout is now the subject in a missing person investigation following the report from his family. A search is being conducted in the Kneeland area, utilizing a California Highway Patrol (CHP) helicopter, HCSO Search and Rescue, ATVs, and drones.

Stout is described as a 6’4” white male adult with blue eyes, red hair, weighing about 220 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, possibly a sports jersey.

Anyone with information for the Sheriff’s Office regarding Dylan Stout’s possible whereabouts should call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251.

Press release from the Klamath River Renewal Corporation:

Today marks the complete removal of the four lower Klamath hydroelectric dams. Kiewit, the dam removal contractor hired by the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to complete the construction elements of the project, has finished all work in the river.

Following the cofferdam breaches last month, a portion of the Iron Gate cofferdam and a temporary river crossing at Copco No. 1 were left in place to provide access to the far side of the river in order to remove diversion infrastructure. With all the diversion infrastructure, temporary bridges, and dam materials now fully removed from the river, the dam removal portion of the Klamath River Renewal Project is now complete.  Restoration and recovery of the river will continue for the coming years.

Together, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2, J.C. Boyle, and Iron Gate Dams had blocked fish passage and impaired water quality for more than a century. All four were hydroelectric dams that did not provide irrigation or drinking water and were not operated for flood control. Following decades of advocacy, led by area tribes and supported by conservation advocates, commercial fishing organizations, and the States of California and Oregon, federal regulators approved the removal of the dams in November 2022. Ownership of the project was then transferred to the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), the organization that was created to oversee the removal of the dams and related restoration of the previously submerged lands.

Copco No. 2, the smallest dam, was removed in the summer of 2023. In January of 2024 the Copco No. 1, JC Boyle, and Iron Gate reservoirs were drained, and deconstruction began in the spring. Massive amounts of concrete, earth, rocks and clay was removed from the river channel as part of the dam removal process. With these obstructions now cleared from the mainstem river, fish once again have access to more than 400 stream miles, including in tributary creeks and streams, of habitat in the upper Klamath Basin.

While the dam removal portion of the project is now complete, work will continue for several years restoring the 2,200 acres of formerly submerged lands. As the reservoirs drained in January, native seed mix was applied to the reservoir footprints. This initial round of seeding was intended to stabilize sediments and improve soil composition. This fall, restoration crews will turn their attention to amending soil conditions and will then perform another round of seeding and planting. Restoration crews will be onsite until vegetation success meets predetermined performance metrics. Restoration work is likely to continue for at least the next several years.

To learn more about the project, see klamathrenewal.org.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Attorney General Sues St. Joseph Hospital for Denying a Woman Emergency Abortion Care

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This week, the California attorney general announced a lawsuit again St. Joseph Hospital’s parent company for denying emergency abortion care to a Eureka woman, Dr. Anna Nusslock.

I live in Ferndale. I don’t know Dr. Nusslock, but I’m so sorry for what she’s gone through. Her story opened my eyes to how my own St. Joe’s story could have turned out differently.

The author and her daughter. Photo: Submitted.

I received miscarriage treatment there in April because a very wanted pregnancy ended on its own at seven weeks and had not passed out of my body by 11 weeks.

Let’s imagine my body’s process had gone just a bit differently. Let’s say the fetus wasn’t going to survive but hadn’t died yet. Let’s say I was bleeding, as happened repeatedly in my last pregnancy with my daughter, who’s now two. 

According to this lawsuit, the hospital policy might have dictated that I try to get myself to San Francisco, perhaps by paying out of pocket for a medical flight (if not too foggy), and risking death on the journey. Or I might have received a bucket and some rags and been told to get myself to Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata.

None of us — urban, rural, rich, middle-class, poor — deserve this indignity. Dr. Nusslock’s story shows that we - women and our loved ones - are not safe, even in a blue state. Stories like hers are being reported all across the U.S. since the fall of Roe v Wade under Donald Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court.

This is why I believe we have to fight as hard as possible for better policies before and after the election — so that this doesn’t become our kids’ future. It doesn’t have to be this way. (If you’re not sure where to start, check out votesaveamerica.com.)

The doctors and nurses who cared for me at St. Joe’s were compassionate and skilled. The hospital policy, as alleged in the lawsuit, is wrong. All across the U.S., policymakers who want to control women’s bodies this way are growing more emboldened by the Republican party (which, by the way, also wants to replace Affordable Care Act’s protections with unspecified “concepts of a plan”).

Please share these stories with anyone, in any state, who needs convincing about the stakes of this election. I know so many of you have your own stories too.

I see Trump/Vance signs at houses in Humboldt County and I wonder, would those people really accept me bleeding out and leaving my daughter motherless? Is that what “pro-life” means to you? What are we even doing here?

I’m not very comfortable sharing my story. I’d rather not have to. I’ve just started my own company and I’m risking loss of potential business.

But I’m angry and baffled. And the stakes are too high.

Thank you, Dr. Nusslock and Attorney General Rob Bonta, for courageously trying to right this wrong at St. Joseph’s.

If you’d like to connect with others in our community who care about these issues (including the closure of Mad River’s labor & delivery unit) — to learn from each other and work to create a safer and more just Humboldt County — please go to this link, where a mutual aid organizing process is underway. 

Tamara Evans found something fishy in the expenses filed by a San Diego contractor for the state’s police certification commission.

Classes were reported as full to her employer, the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, even if they weren’t. Meeting room space was billed, but no rooms were actually rented. Sometimes, the number of people teaching a course was less than the number of instructors on the invoice.

In 2010, Evans reported her concerns about the contract to auditors with the California Emergency Management Agency.

Then, Evans alleged in a lawsuit, her bosses started treating her poorly. Her previously sterling performance reviews turned negative and she was denied family medical leave. In 2013, she was fired – a move she contends was a wrongful termination in retaliation for whistleblowing.

Last week, a federal court jury agreed with her, awarding her more than $8.7 million to be paid by the state.

Tamara Evans sued California’s police credentialing agency after her dismissal in 2013 and 11 years later won $8.7 million from the federal jury that heard her whistleblower retaliation case. Photo courtesy of Bohm Law Group

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleged that Evans found governmental wrongdoing and faced retaliation from her employer, and that she wouldn’t have been fired if she hadn’t spoken up.

That’s despite a State Personnel Board decision 2014 that threw out her whistleblower retaliation claim and determined the credentialing agency had dismissed her appropriately.

Evans’ trial attorney, Lawrance Bohm said the credentialing agency hasn’t fixed the problems Evans originally identified. The money Evans complained about was federal grant money, but the majority of its resources are state funds.

“The easier way to win (the lawsuit) was to focus on the federal money, but the reality is, according to the information we discovered through the investigation, (the commission) is paying state funds the same way that they were paying illegally the federal funds,” Bohm said. “Why should we be watching California dollars less strictly than federal dollars?”

Bohm said Evans tried to settle the case for $450,000.

“All I know is that systems don’t easily change and this particular system is not showing any signs of changing,” Bohm said, who anticipates billing $2 million in attorney fees on top of the jury award.

“That’s a total $10 million payout by the state when they could have paid like probably 400,000 (dollars) and been out of it.”

Katie Strickland, a spokesperson for the law enforcement credentialing agency, said in an email that the commission is “unaware of any such claims” related to misspending state funds on training, and called Bohm’s allegations “baseless and without merit.”

The commission’s “position on this matter is and has always been that it did not retaliate against Ms. Evans for engaging in protected conduct, and that her termination in March of 2013 was justified and appropriate,” Strickland said. “While (the commission) respects the decision of the jury, it is disappointed in the jury’s verdict in this matter and is considering all appropriate post-trial options.”

Bohm said the training classes amount to paid vacation junkets to desirable locations like San Diego and Napa, where trainees might bring their spouses and make a weekend out of it while spending perhaps an hour or two in a classroom.

“Why is it that there are not a lot of classes happening in Fresno?” Bohm said. “I think you know the answer to that.”

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