The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the implementation of automated license plate readers throughout unincorporated communities including Rancho Santa Fe at its Oct. 22 session.
The automated license plate recognition (ALPR )cameras can assist law enforcement in finding missing persons, investigating crimes and can even help identify human activity related to wildland fires. They are a non-discriminatory tool as the high-speed computer-controlled camera systems scan all vehicles that cross their path.
Since 2009, ALPRs have been used successfully in cities such as Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas and Carlsbad, according to San Diego County Sheriff Captain Christopher Lawrence.
The readers were used to identify and arrest a hit-and-run homicide suspect in Lemon Grove over the summer and helped locate suspects vehicles involved in a series of storage facility burglaries from Solana Beach to San Diego, resulting in multiple arrests. Fugitive Task Force members also used APLRs to locate a child in a parental abduction case in Riverside County.
“Flock Safety ALPRs have already made a positive and measurable impact on the public safety efforts in other cities throughout San Diego,” Lawrence said. “We are excited to expand the success to the residents living in the county’s unincorporated areas.”
Rancho Santa Fe has the most LPRs being considered for the county with eight locations identified. The LPRs will also be placed at locations in 4S Ranch, Ramona, Fallbrook, Borrego Springs, Julian, Alpine, Campo and Rancho San Diego.
According to RSF Patrol Chief Mike Scaramella, the sheriffs department would install and run the devices in the Covenant and the $37,000 cost would be funded by the Rancho Santa Fe Community Services District.
Per Senate Bill 38, any public agency that intends to operate an ALPR system must provide an opportunity for public comment at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the governing body of the public agency before implementation. The sheriff’s department held over 30 outreach sessions in the incorporated areas and the Oct. 22 supervisors’ meeting served as time for public comment.
There were a handful of speakers against the ALPRs, sharing concerns about tracking and tracing people, and the cameras being used to limit movement and “watch every single move we make.”
Addressing privacy concerns, Lawrence said that ALPR data is only shared with law enforcement. Per the board’s report, the law prohibits the department from selling the data and it cannot be shared across state lines —federal agencies do not have access to the data. The data is only stored for up to a year unless it is being used in a criminal investigation.
“I’m very supportive of the sheriff’s department using all the tools at their disposal to help combat crime,” said District 5 Supervisor Jim Desmond. “ I think this is a great tool thank you very much to all of our law enforcement officers for keeping us safe every day.”