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Cloverdale Police | License plate readers

The City Council approved a city-wide Flock Safety license plate reader system in May 2023 on a 3-1 vote, at not to exceed $37,250.00 plus a 10% contingency, then adopted a five-year renewal that November at not to exceed $87,500.00 a year plus a 10% contingency. The department's policy reached the public as a council agenda attachment, and neither vote put a camera count on the record.

At a glance

Initial approval
Resolution 044-2023, adopted May 24, 2023: an agreement with Flock Safety not to exceed $37,250.00 for the initial purchase, installation and first-year maintenance of a city-wide system, plus a 10% contingency [2]
Renewal
Resolution 078-2023, adopted November 8, 2023: a five-year renewal not to exceed $87,500.00 for the annual camera and maintenance fee, plus a 10% contingency [3]
Vote on the initial approval
3-1: "Yes: (3) - Mayor Lands, Councilmembers: Bagby, Wheeler No: (1) - Councilmember Morgenstern Abstain: (0) - None Absent: (1) - Vice Mayor Wolter" [2]
How the renewal was taken up
On the consent calendar, the batch of items a council adopts in a single action [3]
Sharing stated in the policy
"only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law" (Policy 472.14) [1]
Federal immigration enforcement
Barred by Policy 472.14. The department "does not permit the sharing of ALPR data gathered by the City or its contractors/subcontractors for purpose of federal immigration enforcement, these federal immigration agencies include Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB)" [1]
Audits
"ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis" [1]
Who administers the system
The Administration Lieutenant [1]
Where the policy was published
As an attachment to a City Council agenda, carrying a Lexipol stamp of May 24, 2023 [1]
Cameras and locations
not in the records we fetched; the two resolutions state dollars and terms, not devices or sites [2] [3]
Retention stated in the policy
Policy 472.11 says the vendor "will purge their data at the end of the 30 days of storage. However, this will not preclude CPD from maintaining any relevant vehicle data obtained from the system after that period" [1]

How it happened

  1. Procurement

    Council approves the city-wide system

    The council adopted Resolution 044-2023, approving an agreement with Flock Safety not to exceed $37,250.00 for the initial purchase, installation and first-year maintenance fee of a city-wide license plate recognition camera system, plus a 10% contingency. The motion carried 3-1, with Councilmember Morgenstern voting no. Two members of the public spoke on the item, both in opposition. [2]

  2. Context

    Policy 472 carries the same date

    The department's license plate reader policy, which reached the public as an attachment to a council agenda, carries a Lexipol stamp of May 24, 2023. [1]

  3. Decision

    Council adopts a five-year renewal

    On the consent calendar, the council adopted Resolution 078-2023, a five-year renewal agreement with Flock Safety not to exceed $87,500.00 for the annual camera and maintenance fee of the city-wide system, plus a 10% contingency, and authorized the City Manager to execute it. [3]

How it was approved

The minutes of May 24, 2023 record a motion by Councilmember Wheeler, seconded by Councilmember Bagby, “to waive reading of the text and adopt: RESOLUTION NO. 044-2023 ENTITLED: RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CLOVERDALE APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH FLOCK SAFETY IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS ($37,250.00) FOR THE INITIAL PURCHASE, INSTALLATION AND FIRST-YEAR ANNUAL MAINTENANCE FEE OF A CITY-WIDE AUTOMATED LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION (ALPR) CAMERA SYSTEM PLUS A 10% CONTINGENCY FOR POTENTIAL COST OVERRUNS”. The minutes record the tally: “The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: (3) - Mayor Lands, Councilmembers: Bagby, Wheeler No: (1) - Councilmember Morgenstern Abstain: (0) - None Absent: (1) - Vice Mayor Wolter.” Two members of the public spoke on the item, and the minutes record that both “spoke in opposition to the item.”[2]

Six months later the council came back to the same system. On November 8, 2023, item G.3 was an “Agreement with Flock Safety for a five-year contract renewal for the city-wide Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) camera system,” and the minutes record “Action: Resolution Adopted.” Resolution 078-2023 approves “A FIVE-YEAR RENEWAL AGREEMENT WITH FLOCK SAFETY IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED EIGHTY-SEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($87,500.00) FOR THE ANNUAL CAMERA AND MAINTENANCE FEE OF A CITY-WIDE AUTOMATED LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION (ALPR) CAMERA SYSTEM PLUS A 10% CONTINGENCY FOR POTENTIAL COST OVERRUNS AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE SAID AGREEMENT.” The item sat on the consent calendar, the batch of items a council adopts in a single action.[3]

What governs it

The department’s license plate reader policy is Policy 472, carrying a Lexipol stamp of May 24, 2023, the same date as the council’s first vote. It reached the public as an attachment to a council agenda rather than as a posting on the department’s own site. Section 472.14 says the data “may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law.” The same section bars one kind of sharing outright. The department “does not permit the sharing of ALPR data gathered by the City or its contractors/subcontractors for purpose of federal immigration enforcement, these federal immigration agencies include Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB).” The policy requires the Chief to consider the California Values Act, the state law limiting local assistance with immigration enforcement, before approving a release. It says “ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis” and puts administration of the system with “the Administration Lieutenant.”[1]

Policy 472.11 sets the retention. The vendor “will purge their data at the end of the 30 days of storage. However, this will not preclude CPD from maintaining any relevant vehicle data obtained from the system after that period.”[1] The clause sets the vendor’s clock and leaves what the department keeps to the department.

What it does not establish

The two resolutions are the money and the term. Neither states how many cameras the city bought, where they were installed, or which agencies have searched the system. The public record of the two votes runs to dollars and a contract length, and the operating detail sits in the agreement itself, which we have not read.

Questions

What did Cloverdale agree to pay for its license plate readers?
Resolution 044-2023 approved an agreement not to exceed $37,250.00 for the initial purchase, installation and first-year maintenance fee, plus a 10% contingency. Resolution 078-2023 approved a five-year renewal not to exceed $87,500.00 for the annual camera and maintenance fee, plus a 10% contingency. [2] [3]
How many cameras does the city have?
Not in the records we fetched. Both resolutions describe a city-wide system in dollars and terms and neither states a camera count or a location. [2] [3]
Who can receive Cloverdale's plate data?
Policy 472.14 says the data "may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law." The same section states that the department "does not permit the sharing of ALPR data gathered by the City or its contractors/subcontractors for purpose of federal immigration enforcement, these federal immigration agencies include Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB)." It also requires the Chief to consider the California Values Act before approving a release. [1]
How long is the data kept?
Policy 472.11 says the vendor "will purge their data at the end of the 30 days of storage. However, this will not preclude CPD from maintaining any relevant vehicle data obtained from the system after that period." Neither resolution states a retention period. [1] [2] [3]

On the map

The community has mapped 361 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 Sonoma County.

What we have documented in Sonoma 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.
    Cloverdale Police Department, Automated License Plate Readers, Policy 472 (Lexipol, 2023-05-24), attachment to a City Council agenda · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy · our copy (143 KB)
  2. 2.
    Cloverdale City Council, minutes of May 24, 2023 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy
  3. 3.
    Cloverdale City Council, minutes of November 8, 2023 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy

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