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Auburn Police | Public safety cameras

Policy 375 of the department's published manual states that "The Auburn Police Department operates a public safety video surveillance system." The cameras record video and not sound, and a note in the policy puts storage on the fixed pole cameras at about 90 days.

At a glance

Program
"The Auburn Police Department operates a public safety video surveillance system" (Policy 375) [1]
Audio
Not recorded. "The cameras shall only record video images and not sound" [1]
Retention
About 90 days on the fixed pole cameras, "depending on the video quality setting for the camera" [1]
Camera count and locations
not in any record we fetched; the policy describes the system without listing devices [1]
Installation dates and cost
not in any record we fetched

How it happened

  1. Context

    Policy 375 in the published manual

    The manual carries Policy 375, Public Safety Video Surveillance System, which establishes the system, prohibits audio recording, and notes that the fixed pole cameras hold about 90 days of video. [1]

What the policy establishes

Policy 375 of the Auburn Police Department’s published manual states that “The Auburn Police Department operates a public safety video surveillance system,” that “The cameras shall only record video images and not sound,” and, in a note, that “The fixed POD security cameras have a storage capacity in which data is retained for approximately 90 days depending on the video quality setting for the camera.”[1] This is a video network rather than a license plate reader network, which the same manual covers separately under Policy 469.

What it does not establish

The policy describes the system without listing devices. The number of cameras, their locations, the dates they were installed, what they cost, and who besides the department can view the video are not in any record we fetched.

Questions

Does Auburn run public safety cameras?
Yes. Policy 375 states that "The Auburn Police Department operates a public safety video surveillance system." How many cameras there are, and where they sit, is not in any record we fetched. [1]
Do the cameras record sound?
No. Policy 375 states that "The cameras shall only record video images and not sound." [1]
How long is the video kept?
A note in Policy 375 states that "The fixed POD security cameras have a storage capacity in which data is retained for approximately 90 days depending on the video quality setting for the camera." [1]

On the map

The community has mapped 95 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 Placer County.

What we have documented in Placer 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.
    Auburn Police Department Policy Manual (Lexipol, 2023-12-27), Policy 375, Public Safety Video Surveillance System · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy

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