It’s the public’s right to know versus the police’s need for secrecy.
With fewer outlets to provide news to an information-craving public, a form of citizen journalism has arisen to fill the void. Followers of Facebook or Instagram have noticed them posting accounts of police activity at traffic incidents, suspected crimes, fires and other activity that calls for a police response.
The Visalia Stringer and The Visalia Watchdog have become popular on social media for keeping people informed of police activity in Visalia and beyond.
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, usually within hours.
That is ending. Visalia police have begun to encrypt, or scramble, the radio frequencies they use so the public can’t listen in.
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.
The advance of citizen journalism is fascinating enough: In the digital age, anyone with a phone and internet access can report news on social media. Any event open to the public is fair game. Legacy media such as newspapers are disappearing or severely curtailed. Enter the Stringer, an anonymous group of news gatherers that has been operating for several years. They have amassed tens of thousands of followers on social media. They post stories several times a day of current events. Up until a couple of weeks ago.
On March 20, Visalia police 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 radio signals so that personal information of people the police deal with could not be identified.
The police say there is no other way. The journalists say they hope there is.
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 police to buy the $1.8 million in radio equipment it needed to encrypt its broadcast communication. Police are under a state mandate by the DOJ. Even inadvertent release of sensitive information by police could be costly for the city of Visalia.
The 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 them in the community conversation.
(This story has been updated with additional information.)
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: ‘Visalia’s Stringer and Watchdog: End of police calls?’ Tulare County Voices at 210
Reporting by Paul Hurley / Visalia Times-Delta
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
