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Mono County Sheriff | License plate readers

The Sheriff's published policy states that the office uses automated license plate readers. It sets a minimum one-year retention rule but does not identify the vendor, device count, or locations.

At a glance

Published policy
Policy 432 [1]
Minimum retention
1 year [1]
Prior suspicion required
No [1]
Access records
Individual login, date, and time [1]
Vendor and device count
not stated in the published policy [1]
Locations
not stated in the published policy [1]

How it happened

  1. Deployment

    Published policy describes active use

    Policy 432 states that the Sheriff's Office uses ALPR to capture and store plate data and images. It establishes access, retention, audit, and sharing rules but provides no system inventory. [1]

What the policy establishes

Policy 432 states that the Sheriff’s Office uses automated license plate readers to capture and store license-plate data and images. It lists uses that include locating stolen or wanted vehicles, missing persons, warrants, suspect interdiction, and property recovery.[1]

The policy does not identify a vendor, device quantity, fixed location, patrol-car assignment, contract, or deployment date. Community-mapped points therefore remain unverified and are not presented as Sheriff equipment.

Access, retention, and sharing

Authorized users must receive training and use individual logins. The system records the user, date, and time of access, and the policy calls for regular audits. It also says reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before use.[1]

Data should be stored for at least one year and then purged unless it is retained as evidence, for discovery, or for another lawful production. The policy permits sharing with law-enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for an official purpose after a written request identifies the agency, requester, and reason and receives approval.[1]

The reviewed record does not show the actual configured retention period, current sharing list, query volume, hit rate, or results of an access audit.

Questions

Does the Mono County Sheriff use license plate readers?
Yes. The published policy states that the office uses ALPR to capture and store plate data and images. [1]
How long is Sheriff ALPR data kept?
Policy 432 says data should be stored for a minimum of one year, then purged unless it is retained as evidence, for discovery, or for another lawful production. [1]
Is reasonable suspicion required before a search?
The policy says reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before using the system. [1]
Who can receive the data?
The policy permits sharing with law-enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official purposes after a written request is reviewed and approved. [1]

On the map

The community has mapped 20 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 Mono County.

What we have documented in Mono 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.
    Mono County Sheriff's Office Policy 432, Automated License Plate Readers · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy

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