Demand for Blue Chirpers rises as drug use increases in Reed Park

In May of this year, we reported on an ingenious device invented by longtime Santa Monica resident Stephen McMahon to deter homeless people from setting up camp and doing drugs in the courtyard parking lot of his building, and thereby prevent the inevitable recurrence of burglaries.

Now, McMahon says demand for this repellent, called “Blue Chirper” for reasons we'll explain in a moment, has increased significantly, from a gentle, steady influx to “I can't make them fast enough.”

The name “Blue Chirper” comes from the fact that it's a simple device about the size of a shoebox. It combines the concept of a flashing blue light – known to keep people awake, which is why it's often used in warehouses and on heavy machinery – with the highly disruptive sound of crickets to keep drug users from finding a cozy place to “disappear” for a day or so.

“My wife and I are going on holiday next week and I have a landlord who absolutely wants four of them, otherwise her tenants will move out, she says, it's that bad,” he says, adding: “They [the landlord] was in tears. Normally it would take me a couple of months to build four, but she practically begged me.”

McMahon says when he walks through the park, he sometimes chats with homeless people who are there and asks them something like, “Are you all hanging out here because they have those Blue Chirper things installed on some buildings?” To which he says they usually respond, “Yeah, we fucking hate those things.” So he knows they work.

“We have naive and, I suspect, well-meaning people who believe that handing out needles… is a good idea. It will protect the homeless from hepatitis C. And now if you think I have a bridge down at Terminal Island, I might sell you.

“If you walk around the park long enough, I walk by and I call them 'Round Pound.' They're pounding the fortified wine, splashing each other in circles and passing around needles. They're not interested in things like hepatitis C,” says McMahon.

The Blue Chirper itself is constantly undergoing small changes. McMahon says the circuit board has been changed to better cool the device without all the hassle a fan can cause. Instead of generating the noise electronically, it is now generated by its own file.

And now, with components scattered across tables and chairs at home and a number of devices in various stages of construction taking up valuable desk space, he's practically battling energetic investors who want a piece of the pie.

The next step is to put the device in a specially designed, pre-molded, reinforced plastic case, rather than the thick wooden box it is now in. McMahon hopes this will dramatically reduce the price, making the Blue Chirper significantly cheaper to manufacture and therefore more affordable to buy.

Earlier this month, a body was discovered in the 1100 block of 6th Court, less than a block from Reed Park. Area residents said the body was found with a stab wound to the chest. Santa Monica Police Lt. Erika Aklufi said the victim appeared to be homeless, but little is currently known about the suspected murder.

If you have any information that may assist in this investigation, please contact Detective Zamfirov at the Santa Monica Police Department at (310) 458-8398.

The controversy surrounding this issue in Reed Park – and the needle exchange program in particular – shows little sign of abating, as we saw in the City Council meeting on August 27 of this year. Santa Monica City Council members still cannot agree on how to handle the program, with Council members Gleam Davis, Jesse Zwick and Caroline Torosis claiming that it actually helps save lives.

During that meeting, the council voted 4-3 to draft a resolution for consideration by the League of California Cities, the Independent Cities Association and the Westside Cities Council of Governments, calling on the state legislature and governor to amend laws to allow local control over the distribution of syringes and other drug paraphernalia in local communities.

City Attorney Doug Sloane clarified: “State law prohibits us from exercising local control over the program… State law prohibits the city from having any control over the program.”

However, City Manager David White added, “We would ask that you do not refer us to the California Association of Cities yet, as we have learned that their deadline to adopt the resolution was August 17, and that deadline has obviously passed.”

“[Moreover] they have actually reached out to us. They are considering drafting language and legislation next year, so they would like to meet with us and better understand our concerns. So I think it would be best for us to watch what legislation they are preparing and then comment on it before we prepare a resolution for the league.”

Therefore, it is very likely that this problem will initially worsen before it improves.

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