This week, the Pacific Grove City Council will consider striking an agreement with outside firm Flock Safety to implement Automated License Plate Reader technology in the city over the next two years.
The matter is on the agenda for Wednesday’s regular council meeting, brought forward by Pacific Grove Police Chief Cathy Madalone. The proposed agreement with Flock Safety would see a dozen ALPRs placed around Pacific Grove at a cost of no more than $65,000 to the city, according to an agenda report for Wednesday’s meeting.
Growing in popularity statewide, ALPR technology is used to identify and, in turn, alert law enforcement to any stolen cars or vehicles of interest passing through a jurisdiction. Other offered benefits include general deterrence against crime, plus the opportunity to improve criminal investigations with more data readily available to law enforcement agencies on vehicles entering and leaving a locality.
ALPR cameras are intended to automatically identify vehicles as they pass by – including color, makes and models – and their license plates, but not any personally identifiable information of occupants (so a car and its physical characteristics, but not anyone inside).
For Pacific Grove, the recommendation is to have Flock Safety install a total of 12 solar-powered ALPRs mounted on poles at up to 12 key locations throughout the city, according to Wednesday’s agenda report. Camera locations would be driven by key entry and exit points to the city.
The idea of enlisting Flock Safety for ALPR services in Pacific Grove first circulated in city discussions at a November Traffic Safety Commission meeting. A month later, the matter was the subject of a community town hall meeting.
At December’s town hall discussion, Madalone argued that the technology would be a “valuable asset to our women and men of the police department.” Operating in cities around the country, Flock Safety boasts that its license plate reading cameras can help reduce crime in a community by as much as 70%.
Still, the technology has its critics. Qualms raised with ALPRs when proposed for other cities have been tied to both privacy concerns and questions over readers’ effectiveness.
In 2020, theCalifornia State Auditor found that among four different police agencies evaluated across the state, law enforcement “must improve their ALPR data security, make more informed decisions about sharing their ALPR data, and expand their oversight of ALPR users.”
But both Flock representatives and Pacific Grove city staff maintain that community members’ privacy will not be compromised by bringing ALPR cameras to town.
To assuage any anxieties with reader security, Flock Safety assures that data collected from cameras is retained for only 30 days until it is recycled. Data is stored in Flock Safety software, which is then accessed by law enforcement.
According to an ALPR policy prepared for the Pacific Grove Police Department, only “properly trained sworn officers” and professional staff would have access to Flock’s software. Data would also be accessible only through a login/password-protected system. The Pacific Grove Police Department also plans to “perform regular audits of system access to ensure collected data is secure and being used in accordance with Department policies,” Wednesday’s agenda report notes.
Meanwhile, to demonstrate transparency with how collected data is employed, the Pacific Grove Police Department plans to launch a public ALPR transparency portal, should the City Council OK moving ahead with the technology. The portal would reside on the department’s webpage and openly share when and how officers are using data collected by Flock cameras.
“I’m bringing this forward because I think (ALPRs) would be an effective tool for providing investigative leads for our department,” Madalone said over the phone Tuesday. From catalytic converter thefts to carjacking, Madalone explained that Flock cameras could have helped prevent crimes recently reported in Pacific Grove.
She added that Pacific Grove is not the only local city interested in implementing ALPRs.
“A majority of the agencies on the ( Monterey) Peninsula are either looking at (ALPR technology) or implementing it,” she said.
In 2021, the Salinas City Council approved the use of Automated License Plate Readers. That effort was bolstered as recently as this month. Last week, California Reps. Jimmy Panetta and Zoe Lofgren announced that more than a million dollars in federal funding had been secured for the Salinas Police Department to improve efficiency, officer safety and community transparency. Among projects planned for the federal funding include new license plate readers.
Wednesday’s Pacific Grove City council meeting will begin at 6 p.m. The meeting can be accessed both in person at the Pacific Grove City Council chambers, 300 Forest Ave., or online at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/209579290. The chamber capacity is limited to 50 people and is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
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