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Ex-sheriff’s new gig with smart gun startup triggers ethics concerns

Silicon Valley startup Yardarm Technologies Inc. has had its share of growing pains since it debuted a sensor that records when a gun is unholstered or fired. Yardarm decided to target law enforcement agencies and private security firms to avoid the pitfalls and politics of the consumer gun market. The company didn’t have to look very far to find its first partner, testing the technology with the nearby Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office last fall. Yardarm owes much of the success of this partnership to one man, former Sheriff Phil Wowak, who is now a paid adviser for the company.

Here’s a timeline of important events in Yardarm’s relationship with Santa Cruz County.

Matt Drange is a reporter for Reveal, covering the business of guns. He previously reported on Silicon Valley and the intersection of technology and the environment. He won a James Madison Freedom of Information Award from the Society of Professional Journalists' Northern California chapter for his work on the Toxic Trail investigation, which exposed how mismanagement of Superfund cleanup sites often leads to substantially more harm than good. Prior to joining Reveal, Drange worked for the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, where he wrote about malfeasance in state government and the influence of money in politics. Drange started his career covering police and courts for the Eureka Times-Standard in California. He earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and did his undergraduate work at Humboldt State University. Drange is based in Reveal's Emeryville, California, office.