RPOA Joins Other State Agencies In Opposing Bill To Restrict License Plate Reader Tech

The Riverside Police Officers’ Association (RPOA), the union representing most of the city’s officers, has joined other California law enforcement agencies to oppose a local state senator’s attempt to add restrictions on automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. 

“Senate Bill 1013 is about one simple principle: Protecting the privacy of all Californians, immigrants and our most vulnerable communities while ensuring law enforcement tools are used responsibly,” Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) said in a statement to The Riverside Record. “The unchecked use of automated license plate reader data raises significant concerns about civil liberties and the potential for further misuse of personal information, especially amid the federal administration’s mass surveillance efforts.”

ALPRs use cameras and artificial intelligence software to automatically capture, analyze and store license plate information, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The devices have become part of law enforcement’s toolkit for over two decades. One of the more well-known ALPR systems, especially across California, is sold by Flock Safety.

“No comprehensive public dataset exists on ALPR’s use effectiveness or on case outcomes,” Cervantes said. “That means millions of law-abiding Californians are having their movements tracked, creating vast databases of sensitive personal information.” 

If passed, SB 1013 would require agencies to delete all information held for more than 30 days unless it is part of an evidence file for an active investigation, criminal proceeding or matches information from a vehicle of interest list. It would also limit law enforcement officers to using the system’s data for locating people suspected of crimes or to find a missing person and restrict law enforcement agencies from sharing access to their databases nationally or with other agencies by default, requiring California-based agencies to manually share data with one another.

“Law enforcement agencies rely heavily on regional data-sharing partnerships to track organized crime networks, human trafficking operations and cross-county offenses,” Ryan Sherman, a lobbyist affiliated with RPOA, said in a letter sent to the state’s Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation committee in June and shared with The Record. “SB 1013 would disrupt these partnerships, creating investigative blind spots and enabling offenders to exploit jurisdictional gaps.”

Despite previous unsuccessful attempts by California lawmakers to restrict the tech, the proposed legislation has moved forward to the California State Assembly floor for debate. 

“While we recognize and support the importance of safeguarding individual privacy, this measure would significantly hinder law enforcement’s ability to protect the public and investigate serious crimes,” Sherman said in his letter. “Reducing access to ALPR data will not deter criminal behavior — it will only make it more difficult to detect, investigate and prevent it.”

Sherman added that local law enforcement agencies already operate under strict ALPR policies, and misuse of collected data could lead to criminal prosecution in certain cases.

There are 120 Flock Safety ALPR cameras throughout the city of Riverside, according to documents released by the Riverside Police Department (RPD). DeFlock, a volunteer-run project tracking the use of ALPRs across the nation, maintains a crowdsourced map showing locations of cameras. In Riverside, the map shows cameras spread out across the city. 

RPD, in response to a California Public Records Act request, said location data for Flock cameras was exempt from disclosure under state law.

The department’s policy handbook has several restrictions on how officers can use the tech. Rules include providing officers with training before they can use it, having a procedure in place for sharing data with agencies outside of California based on its records policy and deleting data after one year. The policy also says probable cause or reasonable suspicion are not required prior to using an ALPR to collect data.

The department shares that data with more than 250 law enforcement agencies across California, according to documents released by RPD. 

Last week, Flock Safety announced it would update its safeguards amid increased nationwide scrutiny. The new updates include setting the default retention setting to seven days and the rollout of “evidence mode,” which allows agencies to retain data for active investigations.

Existing customers would keep their current settings, the company added, but would receive the new mode at no cost if they chose to switch to the new recommended timeframe.