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Residents urge council to agendize Peregrine software purchase amid privacy concerns
Summary
City staff and the police chief described a planned purchase of Peregrine Technologies’ data‑integration software; multiple residents told council the item needs fuller public vetting, independent expertise and clarity about safeguards before any contract is finalized.
City Manager Karen Pinkus and Police Chief Paul Keith briefed the El Cerrito City Council on June 2 about plans to acquire Peregrine Technologies, a data‑integration tool the chief said will help detectives search the city’s existing records more efficiently.
Pinkus said staff has received public comments expressing confusion and “incorrect rumors” about the software and asked Chief Paul Keith to explain the product and its intended use. Chief Keith described a recent violent assault and said the department is seeking tools to help investigators and replace capabilities lost after the city ended its license‑plate reader program. Keith said Peregrine is “a data integration tool” that “does not create a database,” that the software “is not a surveillance system” and that predictive features exist as an optional paid module the department does not plan to enable. He also said the city expects to pay for the pilot with COPS grant funding and estimated staff‑time savings from digital case filing at about $35,000 annually.
Residents at oral communications pushed back. Several speakers, including Megan Stefan and Cindy McPherson, told the council the Peregrine proposal should be placed on a regular council agenda so the public can review security safeguards, data‑access rules and any potential predictive‑policing features. Megan Stefan said the process so far has felt opaque and urged the city to allow time for community experts and residents to assess the tool. Cindy McPherson described the proposed trial as a roughly $45,000, one‑year implementation and raised concerns about bias and civil‑liberty risks from AI‑driven analytics.
Other commenters expressed mixed views: Denise Singhster said a large neighborhood email list she manages supported license‑plate reader uses, while Gigi Geronimo and Bill Barish asked that the council apply the same rigorous review it gave to the company Flock before proceeding with another vendor. Several speakers cited the community safety committee meeting where the chief presented Peregrine and asked that council-level discussion be held in public so residents can respond and outside experts can offer input.
City Manager Pinkus and Chief Keith repeated that the department is seeking efficiency and analytic capability, that the system is intended to search existing agency data, and that staff will provide further information. Pinkus invited residents to contact the chief directly and indicated staff could provide additional explanatory materials.
What happens next: The council did not take action on Peregrine at the June 2 meeting. Multiple residents asked that staff place the Peregrine contract on a future council agenda to allow formal public comment, independent expert testimony, and a clear statement of the technical safeguards and operational limits before any purchase or pilot begins.
