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ORWELL INDEX

Who runs license plate readers in San Bernardino County?

On the map

0
Verified by us
1432
Community-reported

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

What we do not know

San Bernardino Sheriff

  • Whether a plate read is kept thirty days or two years. The contract's default is thirty and the Department's manual says two. The order form settles it, and the executed copies are image-only scans.
  • Who the county shares plate data with. A data-sharing memorandum with Flock was approved in February 2023 and its attachments were not readable this pass. The published policy carries no geographic limit.
  • How many cameras there are in total. The 2025 lease covers 55. The Vigilant equipment bought in 2016 and 2017 is not counted anywhere we found, and nothing says whether it still runs.
  • How much of the $375,208 homeland security grant is for plate readers.
  • Whether sections 2.455.25 and 2.455.40 have been reviewed since the Attorney General's October 2023 bulletin on sharing plate data. They carry no revision stamp.

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 San Bernardino County.

Go to the San Bernardino 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 ↗