In the first city council meeting this month in Centralia, Police Chief Stacy Denham spoke to the council concerning two major issues, the first being to address what actually qualifies as trespassing by local law.
“One of the things we run across all the time is people don’t understand what it means to have someone who is trespassing and the definition of trespassing, and what they can and can’t do,” Denham said.
He explained that Centralia trespassing laws are based strictly off of Revised Codes of Washington (RCW) 9A.52.070, 9A.52.080, 9A.52.010(3), 9A.52.105 and 9A.52.115, which are all listed on the city’s website at https://www.cityofcentralia.com/509/Trespass-Information.
Denham stated property owners and managers could also fill out their own notices of trespassing on the city website at https://www.cityofcentralia.com/FormCenter/Police-7/Notice-of-Trespass-61.
He also advised property owners to fill out a Trespass Letter of Consent (TLC), which once filled out, allows Centralia police to trespass anyone from the property.
“It’s kind of unique, there aren’t a lot of agencies that do it,” Denham said. “But what it does is we don’t have to sit there and keep reaching out and missing (trespassing) somebody and not being able to get a hold of an owner. It allows us to help them out when they’re not there.”
He added that if the form isn’t filled out, the department’s hands are tied and they can’t do anything about the trespassing unless it’s coming directly from the owner.
Property owners interested in filling out and submitting a TLC can do so online at https://www.cityofcentralia.com/FormCenter/Police-7/Trespass-Letter-of-Consent-60.
If a TLC has been filled out and submitted, then Centralia police can not only trespass individuals from the property the TLC has been submitted for, but also fill out the notice of trespass, upon which the department will reach out to the property owner and deliver the notice to see if the individual is actually someone they want trespassed.
“We get a lot of calls in the Centralia Police Department dealing with trespass issues and for a lot of cases, we can’t do anything about it because they (the caller) haven't followed the rules that we’re governed by,” Denham said.
Denham was also joined virtually at the meeting by Hector Soliman-Valdez, senior community engagement manager at Flock Safety, to ask the council to consider purchasing a number of Flock cameras for the police department.
Flock Safety is an Atlanta-based security company that specializes in automated license plate recognition technology, and Denham explained that they are interested in providing Centralia with a free trial period to use its cameras and technology to see how it works.
The cameras can be mounted to traffic lights and patrol cars and focus only on identifying license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions. Soliman-Valdez explained why he believed the cameras were a good addition to any police force aside from just crime being on the rise.
“Something that we’ve observed is that police head-count is on the decline nationwide, it’s extremely hard to hire the right people,” Soliman-Valdez said.
The cameras are designed to provide law enforcement with leads that they need to begin investigations by giving them license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions that include make, model and color of the vehicle. Soliman-Valdez emphasized that this technology was only used for tracking vehicles.
“It’s not for people. It’s not facial recognition and it’s not traffic enforcement either. There’s no personal identifiable information. It’s providing clues and investigative leads,” said Soliman-Valdez.
Any data recorded by the cameras is stored for 30 days, as the cameras are not meant for long-term surveillance.
“We want to provide technology to police that helps them solve crimes that are reported, even if someone goes on vacation for 14 days, and then notices five days later, they need to be able to report that crime,” Soliman-Valdez said. “This data will still be available to commence that investigation. We don’t want long-term surveillance or anything close to that, which is why the 30 days is what we’ve seen works nationwide to provide police time to follow up on leads.”
It also helps police track down stolen vehicles quicker. Soliman-Valdez added that the cameras have already been implemented by the Yakima Police Department and in a short time have seen an increase in recovered stolen vehicles since Flock cameras went live there in May, from 55.6% to 78.76%.
Yakima police were also able to issue an Amber Alert and recover a kidnapped child within the same day using the information provided by Flock cameras.
Soliman-Valdez stated that whatever data is collected by Flock is owned by the department and Flock does not share or sell the data to anyone. The data is also securely stored in the Amazon Web Services government cloud storage.
“It’s the same cloud used by the FBI and CIA,” Soliman-Valdez said.
Currently, over 1,500 police agencies around the nation employ the technology and use the cameras to aid in investigations.
Denham added his department has already worked with Flock to identify where to put the cameras and is ready to implement them for the trial period. The cost per camera is $2,500, and the software needed is included. Flock intends to give Centralia 22 cameras to try out, and when they are ready to begin the trial will notify the public via news release.
