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Butte County Sheriff | License plate readers

The Sheriff's Office documented roadside Flock Safety readers through two state environmental notices, twelve in 2024 and four more on Caltrans right-of-way in 2025, at named highway intersections and the county lines. Its policy says the data is held by an outside provider and released under that provider's agreement.

At a glance

Readers in environmental notices
12 (2024) + 4 (2025) [1] [2]
Locations
Hwy 32 at River Rd; Hwy 70 at James W P Rd and Lower Honcut Rd; Hwy 99 at both county lines [1] [2]
Published policy
Policy 607, in the policy manual (stamp 2025-12-30) [3]
Retention period
not stated in Policy 607, which leaves data in the provider’s system under the provider agreement [3]
Contract and approval
no agreement, purchase order or Board item located in the records we fetched [1] [2]

How it happened

  1. Deployment

    Notice for twelve roadside readers

    A California Environmental Quality Act notice filed by the Sheriff's Office states it "intends to implement the use of twelve (12) roadside Automated License Plate Readers" throughout the county, six on Caltrans right-of-way, and lists the intersections with coordinates. [1]

  2. Expansion

    Notice for four more readers at the county lines

    A second notice states the office "has implemented roadside Automated License Plate Readers" and adds four on Caltrans right-of-way on Highway 99 at the south and north county lines. [2]

  3. Context

    Policy 607 in the published manual

    The policy says reader data "is hosted or otherwise provided using an outside company's system" and that release "will be governed by the agreement with the service provider." [3]

What the notices establish

In May 2024 the Sheriff’s Office filed an environmental notice stating that it “intends to implement the use of twelve (12) roadside Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) throughout Butte County, six (6) of which are to be installed along Caltrans rights-of-way,” and listing the intersections: Highway 32 at River Road in both directions, Highway 70 at James W P Road, and Highway 70 at Lower Honcut Road.[1] In March 2025 a second notice stated that the office “has implemented roadside Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) throughout Butte County, four (4) of which are to be installed along Caltrans rights-of-way,” at Highway 99’s south and north county lines.[2]

The notices name the vendor in their titles, and the 2024 notice states that “an ALPRs Usage and Privacy Policy is available for viewing on the website for the Sheriff’s Office.”[1] They do not name a contract, a cost, or a Board decision, and we could not find those in the records we fetched.

What the policy says

Policy 607 says reader data “is hosted or otherwise provided using an outside company’s system” and that “All ALPR data is the sole responsibility of that company (service provider).” Release of data not booked into evidence “will be governed by the agreement with the service provider,” and a release request is “reviewed and approved by a Sergeant or any member of the Sheriff’s Command staff.”[3] The policy does not state a retention period.

The Sheriff’s military equipment policy lists the categories the state’s definition of military equipment covers, from drones to armored vehicles; license plate readers are not among them, and the readers do not appear in that inventory.[4]

Questions

Where are the Sheriff's license plate readers?
The two environmental notices list Highway 32 at River Road, Highway 70 at James W P Road and at Lower Honcut Road, and Highway 99 at the south and north county lines, with coordinates. The 2024 notice says six of its twelve readers are on Caltrans right-of-way and lists those; the other six are not located in either notice. [1] [2]
How long is the data kept?
Policy 607 does not state a period. It says the data is held in an outside company's system and that release is governed by the agreement with that provider. We could not find the agreement in the records we fetched. [3]
Who approved the readers?
We could not find a Board of Supervisors item, contract or purchase order in the records we fetched. The Board's agenda discovery failed on this pass, so no agenda was read, and a records request is drafted. [1] [2]

On the map

The community has mapped 104 devices of this type in the county on OpenStreetMap. These are community reports: the vendor and operator of each point are unverified, and none is confirmed to belong to this system. See them on the map →

Street names from reverse geocoding — © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

What we do not know

What you can do

Show up

Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Butte County.

What we have documented in Butte County →

Protect yourself

Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.

Surveillance Self-Defense →

Sources

  1. 1.
    California State Clearinghouse, SCH 2024050892, Flock Safety Automated License Plate Reading (ALPR) Camera Installation Project, Butte County Sheriff · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy
  2. 2.
    California State Clearinghouse, SCH 2025030727, Flock Safety Automated License Plate Reading (ALPR) Camera Installation Project, Butte County Sheriff · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy
  3. 3.
    Butte County Sheriff's Office Policy Manual (Lexipol, 2025-12-30), Policy 607, Automated License Plate Readers · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy
  4. 4.
    Butte County Sheriff's Office, Military Equipment Use Policy (Rev. 02/17/26) · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy

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