Photo by: Mike Damron – KPBS San Diego
By Arturo Castañares
Editor-at-Large
A local governmental committee that has distributed over $200 million in tactical and surveillance equipment to police and fire agencies without public meetings and disclosures has now amended its charter to require itself to comply with state open meeting laws after a lawsuit filed by La Prensa San Diego exposed their secret meetings in December 2020.
The Urban Area Working Group, known as UAWG, is a subcommittee of the San Diego County Unified Disaster Council (UDC) and is the “Approving Authority” to distribute federal Homeland Security grants to help local public safety agencies prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks.