The Department had been using Tiger Text to delete texts.
In September, a news article revealed that the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) had been using an app designed to keep its communications secret — and to destroy them, preventing attorneys and others from ever seeing them. Despite claiming a legitimate use for the app, just one day after the article was published, the LBPD ceased use of the app.
The app in question is Tiger Text, a mobile application that allows users to set a time period after which text messages will be automatically deleted. The city of Long Beach was spending $10,000 a year on this app, and had been since 2014 or 2015. It justified the use of the app on the basis that it needed it to communicate about confidential crime scene information, victim’s names, and personnel data.
Yet current and former LBPD officers tell a different story. They believe that the app was used to circumvent the California records retention requirements and prevent criminal defense attorneys from obtaining communications between law enforcement officers. This is especially critical in cases involving police shootings and where a defendant claims that he was falsely accused. Up until the article was published, no one outside of the LBPD had any knowledge that the app was being used — or that they were not able to access any of the communications between officers and other LBPD personnel.
This information is important in several key respects. In 1963, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Brady v. Maryland. According to a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney , it held that when the government withholds exculpatory evidence (information that is material to the guilt or punishment of a criminal defendant), it violates that defendant’s right to due process. Under Brady, prosecutors are required to turn over certain material within its control to the defense in a criminal case. If law enforcement officers are using apps that are automatically deleting their communications, then those obligations cannot be met — and defendants’ constitutional rights are violated.
In addition, California law mandates that cities and counties establish record retention schedules for all official documents and records. Using an app that automatically deletes communications between law enforcement personnel would violate those record retention policies.
It is also troubling because we simply do not know what evidence may have been lost due to the use of the Tiger Text app over the past 4 years — nor do we know how many other cities may be using an app like this. It is vitally important to protect defendants’ constitutional rights that they have full access to the evidence against them, which may include communications between officers.
At the Chambers Law Firm, we fight for each of our clients, defending them aggressively against California criminal charges. To schedule a free initial consultation, contact us today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com.
