It’s the public’s right to know versus the police’s need/desire for secrecy.
With fewer outlets to provide news to an information-craving public, a form of citizen journalism has arisen to fill the void.
The Visalia Stringer and The Visalia Watchdog have become popular Facebook and Instagram sites for keeping people informed of police activity in Visalia and beyond. Followers can watch in real time of police activity at traffic incidents, suspected crimes, fires and other activity that calls for a police response.
The Stringer and Watchdog follow the police on the radio with their scanners, as hobbyists have for generations. The difference is Stringer and Watchdog go to the accident or crime scenes, collect information, and publish accounts on social media, which the public says increases public safety and provides a public service.
That is ending.
The Visalia Police Department (VPD) has begun to encrypt, or scramble, the radio frequencies they use so the public can’t listen.
Tulare County Voices at 210 is devoting its April forum to the issue: “Visalia’s Stringer and Watchdog: End of police calls?” The forum is at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 8 at 210 W Center.
The advance of citizen journalism is fascinating enough: In the digital age, anyone with a phone and internet can report the news. Any event open to the public is fair game. Legacy media such as print newspapers are disappearing or severely curtailed. Enter the Stringer and Watchdog, anonymous groups of news gatherers. They have amassed tens of thousands of followers on social media. They post stories several times a day of current events and keep the public informed.
But on March 20, the VPD began “encrypting,” a kind of electronic disguise, so the citizen journalists, and professional journalists, cannot understand the radio calls. Police agencies throughout the state were given a mandate in 2020 by the California Department of Justice to encrypt personal information.
The police say encryption is the only way. But journalists say private information has always been kept off public radio channels and that the police are just using the DOJ mandate as an excuse to do what they have always wanted, full encryption.
Tuesday’s forum hopes to straighten that out.
This could be an impasse for which there is no solution. Federal covid relief funds allowed the VPD to buy the $1.8 million in radio equipment it needed to encrypt its broadcast communication. Even inadvertent release of sensitive information by police could be costly for the city of Visalia.
Journalists argue that these days they are often the only source of information for the public. They provide information that affects people’s lives. It could be critical in the case of a school shooting or hostage situation.
It is a vital issue for the community. At least at Tuesday’s forum it will get a thorough airing. Attending a panel discussion will be The Stringer and The Watchdog, the Visalia police and a member of the City Council.
Join us in the community conversation.
Could you tell me if the live A/V coverage of the panel forum is available to view again somewhere?
Thank you.
Its on our facebook