The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office plans to install 25 automated license plate readers throughout the county to capture data for law enforcement investigations, including stolen vehicles, missing persons, and people with active warrants.
Sheriff Bill Brown said his department plans to do a one-year trial with Flock Safety technology, as part of the National Policing Institute’s Automated License Plate Reader study, and then decide whether to continue using the system and pay for the services. The cost of installing and monitoring the equipment during the trial is being covered by the vendor.
The Board of Supervisors heard about the program at last week’s meeting and voted unanimously to authorize Brown to enter the agreement with Flock Safety.
Supervisors Gregg Hart and Bob Nelson said the Sheriff’s Office policy for the system seems to be using best practices for privacy.
Automated license plate reader systems are being used by the Santa Maria Police Department and the Oxnard Police Department for law enforcement investigations, and the City of Santa Barbara for parking lot operations and parking enforcement.
Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Craig Bonner told the county supervisors that the cameras can be used to issue real-time alerts for a specific vehicle and license plate.
Detectives can also view the camera data to identify vehicles leaving an area at a specific time, which could be used in criminal investigations with a vehicle description, Bonner said. The cameras do not use facial recognition and would not be used for traffic enforcement, he said.
All of the camera system data is stored by the vendor and deleted after 30 days unless it is specifically downloaded for a criminal investigation, according to Bonner. The Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division manages access, and only detectives and supervisors will be able to use the system, he said.
The county might share data with other law enforcement agencies in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and other law enforcement agencies that use Flock. Bonner said it wouldn’t be shared with private entities.
Bonner said the Sheriff’s Office’s use of the system intends to focus on significant criminal investigations, with a focus on violent crime, high-value property crime and rural crime. Detectives will need to submit verifiable reasons for searching ALPR system data, and the department’s use of the system will be published on a public transparency portal, he said.
A challenge with using license plate information for criminal investigations is suspects who will use a stolen vehicle to commit a crime, like people who steal a vehicle and then go out and steal a tractor, Bonner said.
The ALPR systems boast of helping solve crimes and prevent crimes, and Bonner said “deterrence is a bit more nebulous.”
The Sheriff’s Office presentation and ALPR policy do not disclose the locations of the 25 cameras. Flock Safety will recommend the designated locations for the cameras, according to the contract.
The Santa Maria Police Department implemented an automated license plate reader camera system in late 2021, primarily for stolen vehicle investigations. Police used the ALPR system for 264 cases in the first seven months of 2022, Bonner said.
“They have made 86 arrests as a result of their use of ALPR, they have recovered 106 vehicles and they have received 214 let’s call them tips or investigative leads as a result of their ALPR system,” he said.
The cases included a missing person investigation, and arrests of four homicide suspects, a shooting suspect, five robbery suspects and one kidnapping suspect, Bonner reported.
“The LPR technology allows investigators to input limited vehicle descriptive information all in an effort to identify the vehicle’s license plate number and, ultimately, the occupants,” according to the Santa Maria Police Department 2021 annual report.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.