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Grass Valley Police | Vigilant license plate reader

Grass Valley's policy describes a second reader system, Motorola Vigilant cameras on one parking-enforcement vehicle, with data kept up to one year. The department's August 2026 suspension statement covers "fixed-point ALPR readers within our City limits" and does not mention this vehicle-mounted system.

At a glance

Mounted on
One Community Service Officer parking-enforcement vehicle [1]
Retention
Not more than one year [1]
Use stated in policy
Parking enforcement [1]
Status after August 2026
the department’s statement suspends fixed-point readers within city limits and does not mention this vehicle-mounted system [2]

How it happened

  1. Context

    Described in Policy 433.5

    "Motorola Vigilant Learn ALPR data will not be be stored more than one year. The Vigilant ALPR consists of multiple cameras, affixed to one Community Service Officer (CSO) patrol vehicle, used for parking enforcement." [1]

What the policy says

Policy 433.5 states: “Motorola Vigilant Learn ALPR data will not be be stored more than one year. The Vigilant ALPR consists of multiple cameras, affixed to one Community Service Officer (CSO) patrol vehicle, used for parking enforcement.”[1] The same policy’s release rules, which limit sharing to California public agencies, apply to both systems.[1]

What is not established

The department’s August 2026 statement suspends “fixed-point ALPR readers within our City limits.”[2] Policy 433 describes the Vigilant system as cameras on one patrol vehicle. Whether the department continues to use it is not stated in any record we fetched.

Questions

Is this the same system as the Flock cameras?
No. Policy 433.5 describes it separately, as cameras on one parking-enforcement vehicle with data kept up to one year, against 30 days for the Flock system. [1]
Was it suspended in August 2026?
The department's statement suspends "fixed-point ALPR readers within our City limits." Policy 433 describes this system as cameras on one patrol vehicle. The statement does not mention it, and we have not found a record saying either way. [2] [1]

On the map

The community has mapped 94 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 Nevada County.

What we have documented in Nevada 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.
    Grass Valley Police Department Policy Manual (Lexipol, 2025-12-19), Policy 433, Automated License Plate Readers (the archived copy predates this revision) · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy
  2. 2.
    Grass Valley Police Department, "Grass Valley Police Department indefinitely suspends the use of fixed-point ALPR readers within City limits," statement published by YubaNet · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy

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