Secret Police Funding Committee No Longer Operating in Secret After LPSD Lawsuit | laprensa-sandiego.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from laprensa-sandiego.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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.
[FOLLOW-UP] Secret Police Funding Committee Amends its Charter to Comply with State Law | laprensa-sandiego.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from laprensa-sandiego.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
San Diego County law enforcement and fire agencies have secretly run a local committee that has spent over $200 million on armored vehicles, facial recognition technology, license plate readers, drones, riot gear, and other security equipment and technologies without public participation and in violation of state “sunshine” laws, keeping the public in the dark about purchases of controversial police equipment.
The San Diego Urban Area Working Group (UAWG, pronounced “yu-ag”) is the designated Approval Authority under a federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant program established after the September 11th terrorist attacks.
UAWG, a subcommittee of the San Diego County Unified Disaster Council (UDC), is comprised of a police or fire department representative from each of the 18 cities in the county and the Director of the County Office of Emergency Services (OES) and has been conducting its meetings quietly without giving required public notices.
Council Unknowingly OK’d Surveillance Gear for Secretive Police Group
As one of its final acts in 2020, the outgoing San Diego City Council gave city employees permission to buy cell-phone hacking technology as well as drones and rapid response vehicles without realizing it.
Illustration by Adriana Heldiz
As one of its final acts in 2020, the outgoing San Diego City Council gave city employees permission to buy cell-phone hacking technology as well as drones and rapid response vehicles without realizing it.
On Dec. 8, Council members unanimously agreed to apply for and accept $16.9 million worth of federal anti-terrorism grants. The item was placed on the consent agenda, without any additional information about how the money would be spent. None of the officials asked.