Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to the KMUD News.
I'm your news Director, April Lewis, and I'm glad to be with you for this broadcast. In this episode, we have stories on the Fort Bragg Police Department assuring residents that flock cameras are safe, the DCC public forum on group tagging, and an interview with an organizer of Saturday's anti ice protest in Eureka.
But first, some local alerts and updates. This is KMUD News, Starting off with a correction, we reported yesterday that Sheriff William Honsel's travel expenses were being reimbursed by the organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana, based on reporting by the Lost Coast Outpost.
The reimbursement is actually coming from the three states Hansel was representing at the DEA hearing on his lobbying trip, Nebraska, Idaho and Indiana.
In Eureka, according to reporting by redheaded Black Belt, customers and staff were evacuated from the Broadway Cinema last night, July 28th. A fire that reportedly started in a bathroom spread smoke throughout the building and multiple emergency personnel responded to the scene.
No known injuries were reported.
Next from Humboldt County Public Works the Humboldt County Department of Public Works will be conducting maintenance work on Drake hill Road from August 10th to 14th.
The project area will be fully closed during this period to allow crews to safely complete the work.
Road crews will be replacing a culvert near mile marker 34 near the intersection of Eel River Drive.
Both entrances to Drake Hill Road will remain open, allowing travelers to access the road from either direction.
Road work will take place from 7am to 4pm Travelers are asked to drive slowly and follow all traffic control devices and road signs in the project area.
An update on the story we did yesterday on the Mendocino Sheriff's widespread marijuana eradication operations during July.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, also known as the cdfw, has given us more information on their non involvement in the operations. Sheriff Matt Kendall of the MCSO is touting A representative from CDFW stated to KMUD News over email today, quote CDFW did not directly assist MCSO on any cannabis operations MCSO led during July.
CDFW at this time has not been asked to follow up on anything specific resulting from any cannabis operations MCSO led in July.
This may truly be a case of the Emperor having no clothes as CDFW is usually highly involved when there are environmental violations on illegal grow sites.
Next is news on a wild chase today by CHP in the Hupa Valley.
According to scanner traffic, a vehicle that failed to yield led California Highway Patrol on a pursuit.
A car with multiple occupants made its way chased by officers down westbound Highway 169.
The vehicle then turned onto Pequan creek road and made its way up Niles road for approximately three miles.
Occupants then fled the vehicle on foot.
One female was detained, but a male occupant was not and noted for possibly having a gun.
Also, during the pursuit, suspects in the vehicle were throwing rocks at pursuing CHP vehicles out the window.
Up next, our main stories. This is KMUN news.
A new video released by the Fort Bragg police department on the safety of flock cameras goes against established facts about the company. K mod news reports.
The Fort Bragg police department released a beguiling video today with comments from chief Eric Swift and and city council member Lindy Peters in support of the city's flock camera system.
Many of the comments in the video insinuate that flock's camera systems are safe, trustworthy and not used for surveillance of those in Fort Bragg. To say this is a dangerous precedent would be an understatement as evidence from organizations like the ACLU make clear that flock is not to be trusted by anyone.
We'll start with comments by Fort Bragg council member Lindy Peters who says flock cameras are not being used for surveillance, quote, per se. Even though all data is uploaded to flocks cloud storage.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Somebody has taken upon themselves to vandalize the flock cameras which are not being used.
I think we should start by saying not being used for surveillance per se.
In other words, they're not filming everybody that walks by. They're not filming face recognition situations. Basically, as my understanding is, the flop camera is set, is set to take pictures of license plates.
That's it, pictures of license plates.
That information then is sent to a center that basically is a cloud of information that is owned and secured by the city of Fort Bragg through their contract with the flock cameras.
And what they're used for is if there's a car stolen in Lake county, let's say, and the suspect is known to have relatives in Fort Bragg.
So the lake county police department would get a hold of the Fort Bragg police department, say, hey, this car has been stolen.
It's a kia.
It's here's the license plate, here's the color, and bingo. If it has come through Fort Bragg and the flock hammers have picked it up, then that information is given to the lake county officials.
[00:06:55] Speaker A: Fort Bragg police chief Eric Swift made bolder claims than Lindy Peters, going so far as to say that the city's flock cameras do not have surveillance capability, which has been factually disproven across the country.
[00:07:10] Speaker C: We don't use these cameras for surveillance. We Don't. It doesn't have that ability. What the cameras are used for is just like you mentioned, if a crime, crime has occurred or a missing person, and then there is a hot sheet that those events are listed on, and the crime, the. The specific car based on the license plate or description is listed in that hot sheet. That's what the camera is for. It's a stationary camera. And if that car, that descript, that car with that description goes by the camera or the license plate, then there's the alert.
But it's not tracking people, it's not tracking faces, it's not taking any videos except a picture, the license plate, or the description of the car, and that's it.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: Fort Bragg police chief Eric Swift also claims that data given by the city is wholly owned by Fort Bragg, despite the data residing in Flock's cloud storage.
[00:08:07] Speaker C: So the information is stored in the cloud and it's secured and it's owned by us, the Fort Bragg Police Department.
That information, there's law, legislation and policy that dictates who we share that information with. So we do not share it with federal agencies, we don't share it with ice, and we share with specific other law enforcement agencies, and we keep it within the state, so we don't share data with out of state agencies.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: Fort Bragg council member Lindy Peters also stated that minority groups would be protected despite Flock's presence and that Fort Bragg would react if ICE asked for cloud stored data from the city's Flock camera system.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: I think the city council over the years has always had a good policy trying to protect, you know, our Latino population, trying to protect the lesbian population, the gays, the transgenders and everybody. And we have policies that we've written to protect those kind of people who feel, and rightfully so, that they have been, you know, prejudiced against. In certain situations. We try and be an open city, welcoming everybody.
The reason I say that if we knew, if the city council knew for a fact that ICE was trying to get information from our cloud, I can tell you right now, the city council would put it on the agenda and there might be a change in Flock County.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Lastly, Fort Bragg police chief Eric Swift exclaimed that the city's police force is accountable in its use of the Flock system and that documentation exists. Whenever someone uses the system.
[00:09:50] Speaker C: We are accountable. And the accountability piece comes in is with the tracking piece. Flock has given us the ability to see and document who goes in the system. That's our agency personnel, and we can see what they search, when they search,
[00:10:06] Speaker A: those who have followed. National and state coverage of Flock camera systems will likely be highly skeptical of comments by Fort Bragg Police Chief Eric Swift and Councilmember Lindy Peters. The ACLU has data showing that heat maps are created for vehicles tagged by Flock System, meaning that your vehicle could be tracked over time with precise locations and time available to law enforcement and possibly others.
I would like to say that what you just heard is downright dangerous.
At no point should Flock be trusted by anyone for any reason, based on the company's ongoing behavior and seemingly endless lust to track the American public's every movement. It is without doubt one of the most horrifying security systems ever designed and has the potential to eliminate many of the freedoms we have historically enjoyed in this country. I want to detail a few situations where Flock has outright lied about its practices.
In Loveland, Colorado, federal agents were given access to the city's Flock data without permission, including agents from the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.
The ACLU found reports from across the country that, quote, even in the absence of federal contracts, cooperating police officers and departments were regularly sharing Flock data and search results with immigration agencies like US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cb, end quote. In Texas, there is now an example where Flock's camera system was used to track someone getting an abortion in Illinois, using 83 cameras to track her across the country.
Needless to say, these are only a few examples of improper usage.
There are also infamous examples where law enforcement officials have used Flock heat maps to track the location of someone over time who they don't personally like.
With Flock, it is not a question of if it will violate our civil liberties and privacy, but when reporting for kmud, I'm April Lewis.
As ICE detentions continue to ripple across Humboldt, Mendocino and possibly Lake county, local organizers are planning to respond. This Saturday, Humboldt 50501 is holding a rally in support of the families affected by Ryan Hudson sat down with organizer AJ to talk about what's planned and why. Here's that conversation.
[00:12:54] Speaker D: Another courthouse protest is slated for this coming Saturday, organized by the 5051 Humboldt County Chapter.
We spoke with AJ, the local organizer, to learn more.
[00:13:08] Speaker E: This is an emergency action. It's going to be happening this Saturday at the eureka courthouse from 12 to 2pm in response to ICE fidget detaining a Humboldt resident, Gilberto Ruggi Jimenez Gonzalez, who is a Humboldt resident and was detained on his way home from Iowa. This happened last week and we are now holding a protest. First and foremost an abolish ICE protest and second of all to get support for the family as a fundraiser for the family. We will have a donation thing and there will also be a link to the GoFundMe that is going to support his family and to help pay for his bond.
[00:13:55] Speaker D: And as of right now, we know that he's in Colorado, still being held in ICE custody.
We know that his bond hearing has been pushed out roughly about two weeks. So that is still pending. And then in addition to Mr. Jimenez Gonzalez, there are two individuals out of Mendocino county. We've recently reported about their detentions. By the same week of Jimenez Gonzalez,
[00:14:27] Speaker E: we will be also hopefully having the links to the GoFundMes for the individuals who've been detained out of Lake county and Mendocino county at the event so people can help support everyone.
[00:14:41] Speaker D: Can you speak to the trend a little bit or is it a trend? Do you feel like the situation is escalating in terms of ICE activity in Northern California, even though there has not been a direct arrest in Humboldt county that we're aware of?
[00:14:59] Speaker E: Yeah, it is definitely a trend, I would say. And it's something that we've been prepared for, that the groups have been prepared for, that the community members have been preparing for for, you know, upwards of a year and a half now. And we are just, you know, waiting. It seems to be something that is inevitable given that California is, you know, blue state and the administration is targeting blue states and the administration targeting California specifically.
We've been pretty lucky so far, as you said, to not have a direct detainment in Humboldt County.
But it is something. It seems like the ice is creeping closer on all sides, you know, coming up from the south, Mendocino, and coming down from the north, from Oregon. But 50, 51 Central de Pablo, a ton of other local groups will be, will be and are prepared for when that does happen here in Humboldt, and we will be ready to respond. And until then, when there are still people being, you know, murdered in the streets by ice, when there's still people from Humboldt county and surrounding counties and people across the country who are being detained and taken to God knows where, we will still be having these emergency responses. We will still be having these protests to say that we are not okay with the American Gestapo.
[00:16:25] Speaker D: Okay, and then can you quickly clarify for us what does it mean to respond? What does that look like for locals here? What does that mean?
[00:16:34] Speaker E: Well, of course, it really depends on what the situation is, what your comfort level is. You know, of course, there are certain things that we hope we will never have to deal with as a county. But for right now, responding looks like showing up, coming out to support the family, coming out to voice your opinions against ice, to come out in numbers and show that this is not okay to support a member of our community, our neighbor. You know, being a Humboldt resident, he really is everyone's neighbor. It really is a connection to home for I think anyone who has lived in Humboldt county for an extended period of time to see a news article saying that a Humboldt resident was detained by ice.
So I think that that is a really big thing is just showing up and coming out to these protests and these events.
And so I would say really response is just come out when we have one of these protests and be prepared to come out for future events and for future community support.
[00:17:39] Speaker D: Only a couple days prior to the arrest of Gilberto Jimenez Gonzalez by Police and ICE in Wyoming, a 26 year old immigrant in Maine was shot and killed by ICE agents. Although he was not reportedly the intended target of their investigation, AJ happened to be nearby and made it to the scene to witness the aftermath of the shooting, including protests and police cleanup.
[00:18:10] Speaker E: It's very hard to describe the feeling that you get when it's something that is close to you or in a place that is close to your heart versus something that you see on the news that's maybe 3,000 miles away on the complete other side of the country.
But that feeling of hitting close to home is definitely very apparent and was very apparent at the when I was in Maine last week.
So just being there definitely was very, very surreal because I was staring at this man's car who'd been brutally murdered in the street.
But it has really just, if anything, encouraged my energy for protesting, increased my energy for protesting ICE and for bringing that, that spirit back into Humboldt county of this is not just something that you see on the news. This is real life. This is really happening. This could happen to us, this could happen to our neighbors. And we need to be prepared and we need to be protesting this and trying to get it to stop before anyone else lose their life.
[00:19:21] Speaker D: For KMUD News, I'm Ryan Hutson.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: The DCC held a public meeting on a potential move away from the individual tagging of cannabis plants. KMUN news reports.
The California Department of Cannabis Control took public comments on Tuesday, July 28 regarding the potential group tagging of cannabis plants.
The change in policy would mean that plants could be tagged as a group as opposed to tagging each and every individual plant on a grow site. The virtual public hearing was sparsely attended, although many who did offer comment were calling in from Humboldt County.
The hearing was only to listen to public comments and there was no back and forth between any participants and the dcc.
Much of the meeting was in complete silence for the two hours allotted, with the longest period of silence occurring for around 27 minutes between commenters. We wanted to share some of the comments on potential group tagging that did occur, starting with comments by Craig Johnson of Southern Humboldt's Alpenglow Farms, who suggested a route different than moving from individual plant tags to group tagging.
[00:20:40] Speaker F: Craig Johnson at Alpenglow Farms, Southern Humboldt county we have combed over the regulation and the proposal from the DCC and we feel tagging is not necessary. On the cultivation side, we feel there are zero tags needed in the field.
It is not relevant that the name of a specific cultivar and where it is placed within my licensed footprint matters.
Diversion is not happening with a plant growing in the earth on my farm.
If there is a possibility of diversion or safety or any of these other issues the DCC is regulating, it would be after it leaves the farm.
So on farm I feel there are zero, zero need for tags.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: The first of sparse comments during the meeting that opposed moving DCC growers to group tagging came from Southern California based
[00:21:50] Speaker G: Eric Reyes and I'm speaking today on behalf of Los Amigos, the Public Health Institute, the Girls Club of Los Angeles, in strong opposition to the proposed regulations that would make individual plant tags optional and allow group tagging of cannabis plant.
California's regulated cannabis market only works if it's transparent and accountable. Individual plant tagging creates a direct link between every single plan and the state's track and trade system.
That link is what allows regulators to catch diversion, detect unlawful activity and hold the supply chain accountable from seed to sale. Replacing that with a single tag covering a whole group of plants doesn't just reduce paperwork, it removes one of the most important safeguards we have against production slipping into the illicit market.
[00:22:38] Speaker A: Marissa Corey of Southern Humboldt gave comments that growers should be able to batch tag within a given space regardless of strain names assigned, and that more clarification on tagging rules is needed from the dcc.
[00:22:51] Speaker H: Yes, hi, good morning. My name is Marissa Corey and I work for ETA Management Group up here in Southern Humboldt County. I want to start by saying that I agree with a previous commenter that strain names are irrelevant during the cultivation stage as people plant multiple strains within a single greenhouse or a single area and should be able to badge tag that entire space rather than having to batch tag individual strains within the space.
I would also like to say that the regulations are unclear regarding where these tags need to be located on the farm, whether it be on the outside of each greenhouse, if grouped in individual greenhouses or within a cultivation area. I would recommend more clarification and details regarding where these tags should be located within the farm, whether they need to be posted on a fence, in a greenhouse, wherever they need to be. It needs to be made clear in the regulations.
[00:23:49] Speaker A: A Southern Humboldt based cultivator and nursery operator expressed support for group tagging but also raised questions on the cost of the tagging system and its effectiveness.
[00:24:00] Speaker F: So my name is Ed Janicky, I'm a licensed cultivator and nursery operator in Southern Humboldt and I am writing in support of group tagging.
Please adopt it, but I want you to read three findings from your own initial statement of readings.
[00:24:17] Speaker G: 1.
[00:24:18] Speaker F: Tags can be removed and moved between plants. 2. A tag doesn't stop flower from being harvested off a tagged plant and diverted.
3. Once material goes into a harvest batch, traceability to any specific plant is gone.
That is the department stating on the record that plant level tracking never did the job it was sold to do. 250 million tags have been used in METRC in California and they've all gone to the landfill by your own account for a benefit your own document says did not materialize.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: While the DCC's virtual public meeting on group plant tagging was sparsely attended, Southern Humboldt was well represented among those who did comment.
It is clear that small and medium scale cultivators would receive the greatest benefit from group as opposed to individual tagging as it reduces the amount of labor required to be DCC compliant.
However, the lack of engagement from growers and the long periods of silence during the public hearing shows the industry is burnt out on promises from the DCC to fix the current recreational cannabis marketplace in California.
Reporting for kmud, I'm April Lewis.
That's all for our news broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our rotation of broadcast engineers Dennis Marr, Katie Phillips, Bianna Federico, Michael McCaskill, Larry Lashley and Javier Rodriguez. Also thanks to our reporter for this broadcast, Ryan Hudson.
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[00:27:07] Speaker I: Sam.
