A small group of protesters took to City Hall Tuesday night to demand the firing of Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, among other actions, after a report last week revealed police use a phone application that deletes messages.

The news of the messaging system called Tiger Text was first reported in Al Jazeera, and has since sparked legal outrage, brought on an investigation and piqued the interest of the American Civil Liberties Union. The city said last week it was discontinuing use of the application.

The application was installed on nearly half of city-issued police phones. The auto-delete feature could potentially prevent relevant messages from being turned over to opposing attorneys in civil and criminal cases and to the public at large, critics say.

Tuesday’s protest brought out more than a dozen people. It was organized by DC-based ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), with protesters calling for an end to “corrupt cop cover-ups,” a plea to overturn convictions, and discipline for leaders.

“Luna had the audacity to say out of one side of his mouth, ‘Nothing in these messages were relevant to any cases,’ but then he showed people—reporters—a conversation on the app about a case where someone was just killed by police,” said one organizer from ANSWER, Doug Kauffman.

Protesters chant in front of the Long Beach Police Department headquarters after marching from City Hall, Tuesday, September 25, 2018. Photo by Kelly Smiley

The entire city leadership has been brought into question, Kauffman said, since no one outside the department allegedly knew about the use of the app that has been used for the past four years.

The biggest goal of the protest, Kauffman said, is to get justice for those who have been killed by police force. He wants their protests to turn into “a movement” as more people learn about it.

“We’re definitely not going to let this go away after tonight,” he said.

Valerie Osier is the Social Media & Newsletter Manager for the Long Beach Post. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ValerieOsier