Sonora Police | Private camera registry
Sonora police keep a list of privately owned security cameras whose owners have volunteered their locations, so officers can ask them for footage. Registration is voluntary. We found no council resolution, ordinance, or written policy for the program.
At a glance
- What it is
- a voluntary registry of privately owned cameras [1]
- Operated by
- Sonora Police Department [1]
- Platform
- Citizen RIMS [1]
- First described
- city budget narrative, June 2022 [2]
- Cameras registered
- no count published that we could find [1]
- Council authorization
- no resolution or ordinance found in the council packets we reviewed [4]
- Written policy
- none found [4]
How it happened
- Deployment
A registration program appears in the city budget
The police department's budget narrative describes a "Video Surveillance Registration Program": a voluntary program letting residents and businesses register their systems, with an operational procedure, application, and pamphlet drafted and a rollout expected early in the fiscal year. [2]
- Context
The department reports updating the platform
The budget book states the registration goal "has been carried over from previous cycles, and progress has been slowed due to staffing shortages and priority tasks," and that the department has updated its Citizen RIMS component and will introduce the program once its web page is updated. [3]
- Deployment
The department announces the program
Sonora police invite residents and businesses to register camera locations through an online form on the Citizen RIMS platform, so officers can identify nearby cameras after an incident and request footage. The announcement, from Chief Turu Vanderwiel, says that by registering cameras residents "can help quickly locate potential video evidence." The department describes registration as voluntary and says it can be cancelled. [1]
Sonora police keep a list of privately owned security cameras. Residents and businesses add themselves through an online form, and the department can then see which registered cameras sit near an incident and ask those owners for footage.[1][5]
How it was paid for
The program appears in the department’s budget narratives from June 2022, with an operational procedure and pamphlet drafted and a rollout expected that fiscal year.[2] The June 2025 budget book records the goal “carried over from previous cycles,” slowed by staffing shortages.[3] Two days after that budget book, the department announced the program through the Citizen RIMS platform that hosts the form. Chief Turu Vanderwiel said that by registering cameras residents “can help quickly locate potential video evidence.” The department describes registration as voluntary and says an owner can cancel it.[1]
The department’s own budget description states what the registry does: it provides “a quick reference to where to seek potential video evidence.”[2] Registration records a camera’s location and owner; the cameras stay in their owners’ hands.
What governs it
We looked for the rules governing that index. Reviewing the council’s published agenda packets from August 2020 through August 2026, we found no resolution, ordinance, or written policy establishing the registry, setting out what officers may ask a registered owner for, or stating how footage the department receives is stored and for how long.[4]
Questions
- What is the camera registry?
- A list, kept by Sonora police, of privately owned security cameras whose owners have volunteered their locations. When something happens nearby, officers can see which registered cameras might have recorded it and ask those owners for footage. [1]
- Does registering give police access to my camera?
- Registration records the camera's location so officers can contact the owner. The department describes the program as voluntary and cancellable. We could not find a written policy setting out what officers may request or how footage they receive is handled. [1] [4]
What we do not know
- How many cameras are registered?
- What policy governs requests to registered owners and the handling of footage received?
- Is the registry itself a public record, and how is it protected?
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Tuolumne County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Tuolumne 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.
- 2. City of Sonora, adopted budget FY 2022/23, council packet of June 21, 2022 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy
- 3. City of Sonora, proposed budget FY 2025/26, council packet of June 16, 2025 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy
- 4. City of Sonora council agenda and packet archive · Meeting record · accessed · archived copy
- 5. Sonora Police Department camera registration form · Primary document · accessed · archived copy
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