Over privacy concerns by councilman Nils Nehrenheim, the Redondo Beach City Council voted 4 to 1 to participate in a regional “crisis platform” that will alert residents of disasters. The two-way system will also enable residents to alert the city of concerns, such as suspicious packages. And it could be used by the city for non-emergency purposes such as trash pick up alerts.
Police Chief Keith Kauffman said the system will have “geo-fencing” capabilities, enabling his department to warn residents to remain in their homes during dangerous police activity in their neighborhood.
In contrast to the city’s Nixle alert system, which residents must opt-in to receive, the new system will alert residents, unless they opt out.
The existing Nixle system is inadequate for broad-based alerts because it is subscribed to by just 7,300 residents or 11 percent of the city’s 68,000 residents, Fire Chief Robert Metzger told the council.
Chief Metzger said crisis alert systems are being mandated by pending State Legislature bills, drafted in response to alert system failures during the Paradise fire last November, when 86 people died.
Residents’ contact information would be drawn from utility bills and similar sources, and limited to name, address, phone, and email, Chief Metzger said.
“Forcing people to be a part of a master database is a major digital privacy issue. For a host of reasons I can’t support this,” Nehrenheim said following the fire chief’s presentation.
For different reasons, Councilman Todd Loewenstein also expressed opposition to the regional alert system.
“I like to look at what can go wrong,” said Loewenstein, who works in the tech industry. “Last summer Hawaii was mistakenly alerted to incoming North Korean missiles.”
He suggested two-person approval be required for sending crisis alerts.
Loewenstein also objected to the absence of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) compliance in vendor Everbridge’s agreement.
Loewenstein opposed the initial vote for funding the $84,000 system, causing it to fail 3 to 2. Because the measure was an emergency appropriation, approval required four votes.
Mayor Bill Brand then proposed approval being contingent on incorporating Lowenstein’s security concerns.
Loewenstein lent his support to the new measure and it passed 4 to 1.
