LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Since we first reported about Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers using the encrypted messaging app Signal and setting the messages to automatically delete, many of you reached out with concerns about transparency within our local law enforcement.
One man offered a possible solution. His name is Jeff Halstead and he has a wealth of experience in law enforcement.
"I started my career at Phoenix Police Department in 1988, served there for over 20 years and rose to the rank of commander," said Halstead. "I got the job as Chief of Police in Fort Worth, Texas in 2008 and served there until January of 2015."
Halstead has since hung up his badge and now resides in Las Vegas.
He founded the company Evertel Technologies, which has since been acquired by Genasys. The company launched an encrypted messaging app called Connect, which promises to comply with public records laws.
Halstead said the idea for the app came from his own experience in law enforcement.
"Actually when I was a public information officer for Phoenix PD, we had a horrific line of duty death," said Halstead. "It was really an assassination by the cartel on one of our officers in West Phoenix. And after the funeral, I learned that the intelligence that officer needed was actually being handed out in person by gang intelligence detectives."
Law enforcement and public officials often use encrypted messaging apps to send sensitive information, believing the method is secure. But as Halstead explains, consumer apps don't offer that level of protection.
"Consumer apps were built for people that want to share information and it never be uncovered," said Halstead. "So, migrating to the apps like Signal and GroupMe and WhatsApp are organized criminal syndicates. Drug trafficking, sex trafficking, the cartels use it."
Back in November when we reported on Metro officers using the Signal app, we found proof of their text messages exists only because an officer admitted to taking screenshots.
Those screenshots proved officers were communicating about arrest tactics. Not only going against public records laws, but making it impossible to recover and use those messages in the court of law.
Halstead said users on the Connect app can be rest assured their communications follow the Freedom of Information Act.
"It was built for cops, by cops," said Halstead. "We wanted a unilateral, non-siloed approach to intelligence distribution. In that model, we wanted to make sure that they owned every keystroke of data, not us as a company."
That means messages using Connect, even if deleted, are recoverable.
The Connect app has a "retract" option which Halstead explains, doesn't mean the message is gone.
"Here's why we retract messages. We make mistakes. We may send out the wrong address," said Halstead. "But retraction just means it's removed from view, but stored in my account."
That's the difference between consumer apps and Connect.
Halstead said currently about 450 agencies in 38 states use the app, including Phoenix Police Department.
Channel 13 reached out to Metro to see if the department might consider using it as well. A spokesperson said the department has not heard of the app and does not plan on using it.
Halstead said the use of consumer apps among law enforcement agencies across the country is widespread, but he believes it goes against the foundation of what policing is all about.
"This profession has strived to be the most transparent and self-accountable they have ever been in the history of policing in America," said Halstead. "We cannot revert back to having these closed conversations that are secretive and not transparent. Simply cannot do it."
The cost of the Connect app is 5 dollars per employee, per month. Halstead said there is unlimited data sharing and cloud storage.
This year, Halstead said the platform is expanding to support even federal law enforcement.
