The Palo Alto Police Department’s latest crime-fighting tool is silent, passive and largely invisible unless you know where to look.

The city introduced the tool last spring when it became the latest municipality to partner with Flock Safety to mount automatic license plate readers on light poles, street signs and other fixtures in undisclosed locations. The 20 cameras capture information about the license plate, as well as the make, model and color of passing vehicles and send it to a secure server, where the information is stored for up to 30 days. The council approved the purchase in April 2023, and the department installed them gradually until last November.

Now, backed by their experiences with technology, the department is looking to expand its camera network. Next week, the City Council will consider and likely approve a plan to add 10 additional rooms, bringing the total to 30.

The technology has faced persistent criticism from civil rights groups, with the ACLU recently criticizing Flock for its refusal to allow independent verification of its system and pointing to instances where cameras have misread information on license plates. In New Mexico, for example, three people sued the city of Espanola, New Mexico, earlier over errors that resulted from camera mistakes, according to a report by security firm IVPM.

There’s even an open-source project known as DeFlock that encourages residents to map the location of cameras in their communities. While the map doesn’t show every camera, it does indicate that several are set up along El Camino Real and Page Mill Road.

The Palo Alto police, for their part, are all in the new gear. In a new report, the department cites a number of success stories, including an incident where a suspect was arrested after a series of retail thefts, and investigators used Flock data to confirm their vehicle was in area at the time of the thefts. In another incident, a car that was linked to a crime in another city drove into Palo Alto, and officers were able to locate it and take the suspect into custody, who was then transferred to the investigating agency .

Police also reported in August 2023 that they had arrested a group of men at the Stanford Shopping Center who were allegedly involved in an armed carjacking in Berkeley. After being tipped off about the stolen vehicle and locating it at the mall, police stopped the vehicle and later found a Glock semi-automatic handgun with a high-capacity magazine in the back seat, according to the department.

When Palo Alto police command staff made their case for installing the cameras, they touted the technology’s ability to notify the department when a stolen vehicle arrives from another city. Captain James Reifschneider referred to Flock’s technology as a “force multiplier”.

“The advantage ALPR gives us is if they get into those known stolen vehicles or known stolen plates, the camera can alert us to their presence as they enter the area and allow us to respond to an officer there,” Reifschneider. told the council before the April 2023 vote to approve the cameras.

The department’s new report similarly characterizes technology as a valuable tool.

“Real-time alerts generated by ALPR cameras have resulted in the recovery of dozens of stolen vehicles and stolen license plates, the apprehension of numerous wanted individuals and the seizure of firearms,” ​​the report states. “In addition, ALPR has been used to safely locate missing persons.

“Data captured by ALPR cameras has also helped investigators identify and arrest numerous criminal suspects after crimes have been committed.”

The department is not releasing the location of the cameras to discourage criminals from bypassing them by taking alternate routes. It selects locations based on crime statistics, traffic volume and common entry and exit points, according to the report. And while the Police Department does not install permanent cameras in residential neighborhoods, it could locate them temporarily to address a particular crime trend, according to the city.

Palo Alto is one of many cities that have embraced the new technology. Since introducing the Flock cameras, the city has signed agreements with about 60 other law enforcement agencies to share data from the cameras. These include police departments in neighboring and nearby jurisdictions (Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Redwood City), the sheriff’s offices in Alameda and San Mateo counties, and the California Highway Patrol.

Installing 10 new cameras will bring the cost of the system to $524,208 between now and Dec. 31, 2029. The cost will be covered entirely by the state’s organized retail theft grant program, according to the Police Department report.

According to city policy, license plate data stored by Flock must be deleted after 30 days unless it “has become, or is reasonably believed to become, evidence in a particular criminal investigation or is the subject of a request for discovery or other legal action to produce records.” The policy also prohibits the department from selling the data or using it for any purpose other than “legitimate law enforcement or public safety purposes.”