Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department lieutenant in charge of implementing the county's biometric database
PROFILE
Joshua Thai
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FROM Joshua Thai
Which Way, L.A.?
Facial Recognition – Good Policing or Invasion of Privacy? LA Sheriff’s deputies have been taking fingerprints with mobile devices for years. Now, they’re equipped with 126 smartphones and tablets to take pictures of people they encounter out in the field. What does this mean for civilian privacy?
Which Way, L.A.?
LA Law Enforcement to Collect Biometric Data Without any public notice at all, Los Angeles County is taking bids for compiling America’s biggest repository of personal data outside what’s kept by the FBI. And it’s not just personal records, it’s personal characteristics—not only fingerprints, but palm prints, pictures and scans of the iris in your eye. Voice recordings could be next. There’s never been any public announcement. The project was discovered by the Center for Investigative Reporting in the Bay Area.
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KCRW Features
One Year Later: Rebuilding from the Thomas Fire This week marks one year since the Thomas Fire descended on the city of Ventura. It burned more than 500 homes within city limits. Since then, roughly half of those properties have received the green-light to start construction, but only a handful have actually broken ground. We visit one neighborhood where some of the first homes are getting rebuilt.
To the Point
California Gets Back into Presidential Politics In 1972, California clinched the presidential nomination for Democrat George McGovern. Since then, the biggest state has become an ATM for candidates of both parties. But starting in 2020 all eyes will be on California as it moves its primary up to a month after the Iowa caucuses.
KCRW Features
One Year Later: How Ojai Weathered the Thomas Fire Ventura County residents recall how the largest fire in state history, at the time, ignited and threatened to engulf the city of Ojai.
KCRW Features
What Mandatory Evacuation? Some People Just Won't Go The Woolsey Fire destroyed 670 structures in Malibu, including more than 400 single family homes. That makes it the most destructive fire in the history of that beachside community. But some residents say even more homes would have been lost, if not for the private citizens who defied mandatory evacuation orders to protect their neighborhoods. The homeowners who stay during a fire can be a nuisance for fire fighters... but they say they're not going anywhere next time.