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ORWELL INDEX

Who runs license plate readers in Marin County?

On the map

0
Verified by us
117
Community-reported

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including community reporting via the DeFlock project. Tiles by OpenFreeMap.

What we do not know

Marin County Sheriff

  • The Board of Supervisors item, the staff report and the executed agreement behind the contract the Pacific Sun reported, and the exact date of the vote.
  • The office's own siting list, and whether cameras have been added or removed since the Pacific Sun's account.
  • The results of the annual query audits Policy 426.6 requires.
  • Which agencies receive Marin Sheriff plate data today.

Tiburon Police

  • Whether the thirty-day period in Policy 414.6 matches the deletion setting configured in the vendor system.
  • The full list of agencies with access to the database, with the dates access was granted or revoked.
  • The fields the town redacts in the audit rows, and the exemption claimed for them.
  • What happened to the agencies The Ark reported searching the database.

Central Marin Police

  • Whether any agreement, donation or council approval followed the August 2024 presentation.
  • Who the private donors pursued for the program would be, and what conditions any donation carries.
  • Whether the draft policy numbered 426 was adopted, and in what form.
  • When the authority's earlier plate readers were installed and when they were taken out of service.

What license plate readers are

An automated license plate reader photographs every passing vehicle and records the plate, the time and the place. It does not watch suspects. It logs everyone, and the record is usually kept on a vendor’s servers.

How they work, why agencies buy them, and every county we have documented →

What you can do

Civic action

Show up

This technology is bought and renewed by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Marin County.

Go to the Marin County hub →

Personal protection

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 ↗