Police Chief Luna’s Media Interview Doesn’t Hold Water

Following publication of the Beachcomber’s Sept. 18 story reporting on the illegal destruction of evidence over the past four years by the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) using a self-destructing Instant Messaging (IM) cell phone app called TigerText, a highly instructional and revealing message was posted among 25 other community messages published on the Beachcomber website. The person who posted the message identified themself as “Former LBPD.”

The content of the message was simple and to the point: “Long Beach Administrative Regulation AR8-17, Issue 2, specifically addresses instant messaging and that these are to be retained and stored for a period of time and not deleted. Luna’s LA Times interview this afternoon (Sept. 19) claiming the PD didn’t know they were doing something wrong and illegal doesn’t hold water. Either he’s being less than honest about this or he’s very naive!”

The posting was instructional to the Beachcomber’s eight-month investigation to which the newspaper enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the media giant Al Jazeera following the LBPD’s stonewalling of a Public Records Request filed by the Beachcomber to validate what LBPD inside sources had reported about TigerText being used to circumvent records retention laws and legal discovery in civil and criminal prosecutions.

The unnamed LBPD officer referred to information that came from a press conference held by the LBPD on Sept. 19, to which the Beachcomber was not invited.

The apparent key that got the LBPD officer’s attention was the Los Angeles Times’ published interview of Mohammad Tajsar – the ACLU staff attorney with whom the Beachcomber is working – who was quoted as saying he was “particularly concerned” that the app was being used by Long Beach homicide investigators, “to discuss officer-involved shootings … and their “communications (opinions) would have been subject to discovery in a civil lawsuit.”

In the same article Chief Luna was quoted as saying “From a standard and policy perspective there was no malice here, there was no intent to do anything wrong,” and that the value of the app was “its ability to send out an alarm until a message is answered” and that the “department was not trying to hide anything, but “understood how use of the app might look.”

The Beachcomber was not able to determine the identity of the person who identified himself or herself as “Former LBPD” in order to validate that these were the quotes to which they referred or, more importantly, to validate the existence of what the officer described as Regulation AR8-17.

Therefore an email requesting validation of the regulation was sent to Chief Luna along with a list of questions related to statements reported from the press conference attended by invitees, including the Los Angeles Times, Long Beach Post, Signal Hill Tribune and Grunion Gazette.

The first question asked of Luna was why the Beachcomber and Al Jazeera were not invited to the LBPD press conference.

The second question came from the large number of Beachcomber readers who collectively asked: “Did the watch commander or any personnel in his chain of command – including the duty chief and the chief of police – use TigerText during investigation of the DUI/domestic violence incident involving Councilmember Pearce?”

The final question posed in the email to Chief Luna related to his statements from the news conference in which he said: “The LBPD was “shocked by the blow back” and because of it, “The department is reviewing its protocols for communications and retaining records.”

Because of that statement the Beachcomber asked the Chief, “Why did it take release of the Beachcomber/Al Jazeera news articles for the LBPD to order a stop to the use of TigerText for re-evaluation when separate Public Records (PRA) requests from the Beachcomber, the ACLU and Al Jazeera – which began over five months ago – clearly raised questions about TigerText and the legality of its use?

The Beachcomber also noted that that LBPD statements to the invited press acknowledged that the PRA’s were a basic reason the app was withdrawn from use.

The Long Beach Post reported from the press conference that Commander Hertzog, in referring to TigerText app startup said, “Hey we need to change the way this looks and look for different options to accomplish the same thing.”

Had the Beachcomber been invited to the LBPD press conference Herzog would have been asked why he made no mention of the fact that the City Technology Services Department, working under the supervision of the city manager, is responsible for locating, advising and providing vetting services to all city departments, including the LBPD.

The TigerText platform can be configured to save text messaging on its servers. The LBPD’s licensing of the product insured that text messages would not be saved.

At the time of publication the LBPD had not responded to the questions posed nor did the department provide any verification of the existence of AR8-17, Issue 2.

Absent a timely LBPD response a web search was conducted hoping to validate the existence of Administrative Regulation AR8-17, Issue 2.

The regulation was found to exist and a reading of the city administrative rule revealed that the post by “Former LBPD” is valid and accurate.

The regulation reads in part: “The city provides communication technology to its elected officials, employees … as tools to conduct the business of the city and, in so doing expects all users to manage and protect records resulting from communications.”

AR8 -17 also “restricts Instant Messaging software to Lotus Notes” and states, “Users are prohibited from using all other (Instant Messaging) IM services.”

The written policy also mandates that the Police Department as well as all other city employees have a “responsibility to cease destruction of any relevant electronic information concerning any reasonable foreseeable litigation action.”

The regulation further mandates that: “Unauthorized usage be reported to supervisors and if unauthorized IM software is known to be installed on equipment other than City of Long Beach resources – the software must be disabled and violation of the policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.”

Since the Beachcomber received no response from the LBPD a separate request for comment was sent to the city manager after validating the existence of AR8 -17.

The Beachcomber’s message – based upon the AR8-17 information stated: “Our question goes to how the management and review processes in the city manager’s office – as they relate to this regulation – allowed the LBPD to circumvent the administration of this regulation and independently research, vet, finance and implement the TigerText system – which represents a blatant violation of the administrative regulation – including the obvious need to vet though the city attorney’s office.”

City Manager Pat West did not respond to the request for comment by the time of publication.

This news item will be updated as responses come in or more information is developed.

Stephen Downing is a Long Beach resident and a retired LAPD deputy chief of police.

stephen@beachcomber.news