The El Cajon Police Department has garnered attention for its usage of a revolutionary new technology from Flock Safety. Automated license plate reading (ALPR) cameras, a recent addition to the department's arsenal, already led to multiple arrests during their first days of implementation with additional high-profile cases in recent days, despite concerns over privacy, as recounted in an official report by El Cajon Police.
Flock Safety's ALPR program sends real-time alerts to law enforcement when it detects stolen vehicles or known wanted vehicles from state and national databases, according to the City of El Cajon. In one such instance, the system sent an alert to El Cajon Police Officers for a stolen vehicle on Monday, which had been deceitfully taken by two juveniles from an elderly victim the previous day. With the assistance of ALPR, officers were able to locate the stolen vehicle and apprehend the underage suspects, as corroborated in ABC 10 News.
A mere 12 hours later, the system once again played a pivotal role in crime detection, as El Cajon Police Officers received multiple alerts for another stolen vehicle, leading to the arrest of the suspect, 24-year-old Nickolaz Oliver, who was booked for possession of a stolen vehicle, as explained by the El Cajon Police Department.
Despite the ALPR technology's early successes in resolving cases, it is not without its critics, who question the ethics and privacy issues associated with its usage, according to Hoodline. Flock Safety's ALPR cameras capture license plates and vehicle characteristics, but not facial recognition, people detection, or estimates on gender and race, according to a separate Hoodline article.
Maintaining individual privacy, data collected by Flock Safety's ALPR cameras is automatically deleted after 30 days unless it has evidentiary value. With regard to ethical operations and adherence to local, state, and federal laws, Flock Safety provides extensive training to El Cajon Police Department personnel, ensuring they understand real-time alert notifications, system audits, and other required protocols, as reported by Hoodline.
Nevertheless, privacy concerns may persist, especially in light of the potential involvement of external organizations having access to the ALPR database. El Cajon Police Department's transparency portal acknowledges that other departments such as the Corona CA PD, Houston TX PD, and Seaside CA PD, among others, have access to the data. This admission could create skepticism regarding the assurance that data is never shared with third parties, as touched upon in Hoodline.
The Flock Safety ALPR system's acceptable use policy emphasizes that the collected data is strictly for law enforcement purposes, prohibiting its usage for immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment, intimidation, or any use based solely on a protected class such as race, sex, or religion, as described in the official policy.
In addition to the City of El Cajon, the San Diego City Council has also approved the implementation of license plate readers and smart street lights, according to Hoodline. Advocates of San Diego's ALPR cameras, such as El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, have highlighted that the technology is focused on license plates, not people or their faces, thus ensuring privacy, a point detailed in the report by the El Cajon Police Department.
