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Yolo County Sheriff and Yolo County DA | License plate readers

Board of Supervisors agenda items record a replacement license plate reader in 2016 and $59,000 for two more reader pods in 2018, joining three pods the Sheriff had already bought. No county record we fetched names a vendor, a current count or a location.

At a glance

Readers in the last count we found
Three pods already purchased, plus two requested in April 2018 [2]
Vendor
no county record we read names one, for the pods or for the vehicle-mounted readers [1] [2]
Area described in the 2018 request
A "net" around the South-East portion of Yolo County including Clarksburg [2]
Money in the county records we read
$59,000 in Public Safety Contingency funds for two pods (2018); $30,000 of Anti-Theft Contingency Funds for the 2016 replacement reader [1] [2]
Retention stated in the policy
"All ALPR data downloaded to the server should be stored for a minimum of one year (Government Code § 34090.6)" [3]
Sharing stated in the policy
"The ALPR data may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law" [3]
Date of the published policy
the posted policy PDF carries no date of its own; only its 2016 upload path carries a year, and we did not read the office's policy manual on this pass [3]
Current count, locations and access log
not in any record we fetched

How it happened

  1. Procurement

    Board item seeks authority to buy a replacement reader

    The Sheriff-Coroner's item asks the Board for a budget resolution and authority to purchase fixed assets including "a replacement license plate reader," with a stated general fund impact of $30,000 and a 4/5 vote required. The item states that "Sheriff's deputies have been successfully utilizing Vehicle License Plate readers to identify and apprehend stolen vehicles for several years, and the use of this equipment is considered essential to every day patrol duties." [1]

  2. Procurement

    District Attorney and Sheriff ask for two more reader pods

    The District Attorney's item asks the Board to "Authorize the use of Public Safety Contingency funds in the amount of $59,000 to purchase two License Plate Reader Camera Systems," which the item says will join three pods the Sheriff "has already purchased." [2]

The county’s reader network was assembled through Board of Supervisors agenda items. Those pages record what an office asked the Board to do, not how the Board voted, so what follows describes requests.

What the department asked for

The Sheriff-Coroner’s item of November 22, 2016 asked the Board to adopt a budget resolution and grant authority to buy fixed assets including “a replacement license plate reader,” with a 4/5 vote required. The reader’s money came from a “one time transfer of Anti-Theft Contingency Funds”; the item’s $30,000 general fund impact went to an animal services truck. It explained that “Sheriff’s deputies have been successfully utilizing Vehicle License Plate readers to identify and apprehend stolen vehicles for several years, and the use of this equipment is considered essential to every day patrol duties,” and that “Existing equipment has aged and is in need of replacement.”[1]

On April 3, 2018 the District Attorney’s item asked the Board to “Authorize the use of Public Safety Contingency funds in the amount of $59,000 to purchase two License Plate Reader Camera Systems.” The item states that the two offices were requesting the money “to purchase two license plate reader pods; which will be part of a larger already purchased pod system and will ultimately create a ‘net’ around the South-East portion of Yolo County including Clarksburg,” and that “The Yolo County Sheriff has already purchased three other license plate reading pods which will be used in conjunction with the two pods being requested.” It lists the uses it expects as “Human Trafficking Arson Murder Gang Activities Sex Offender Prosecution Trash Dumping Stolen Vehicles,” and says that “If these two license plate reading pods are approved, they will create a Yolo County first - an entire community will have a technology ‘net’ assisting public safety.”[2]

What governs it

The office posts a license plate reader policy as a standalone PDF. It states that “All ALPR data downloaded to the server should be stored for a minimum of one year (Government Code § 34090.6),” and that “The ALPR data may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law.” The document carries no date of its own; only its upload path carries a year, 2016. It names no vendor and no camera count.[3]

What it does not establish

Neither agenda item names a vendor, and neither does the policy. The 2018 item is the last count in the records we fetched, and it describes pods rather than the vehicle-mounted readers the 2016 item refers to. No record we fetched lists where the readers sit today, how many searches run against the data or which agencies hold access. The office’s current policy manual (Lexipol stamp April 28, 2026) carries the reader policy as Policy 430; its retention clause matches the posted 2016 document, its release clause requires a written request reviewed by the Administration Division Commander, and it says “ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis.”[4]

Questions

Does the Yolo County Sheriff's Office use license plate readers?
Yes. A November 2016 Board agenda item states that deputies "have been successfully utilizing Vehicle License Plate readers ... for several years" and asks for authority to buy a replacement. An April 2018 item asks for two more reader pods to join three the Sheriff had already purchased. [1] [2]
How long is the data kept?
The office's posted policy says data "should be stored for a minimum of one year," citing Government Code section 34090.6. The policy sets a floor, not a ceiling, and it carries no date of its own. [3]
Who can see the data?
The policy says data "may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law." The 2026 manual's Policy 430 adds that "ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis." We did not find a list of the agencies that have access, or the results of any audit, in the records we fetched. [3] [4]
Who makes the readers?
Not stated in any county record we read. Neither the 2016 item, the 2018 item nor the posted policy names a vendor. [1] [2] [3]

On the map

The community has mapped 160 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 Yolo County.

What we have documented in Yolo 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.
    Yolo County Board of Supervisors, consent item 19, Sheriff-Coroner budget resolution and fixed asset purchases, 2016-11-22 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy
  2. 2.
    Yolo County Board of Supervisors, agenda item, District Attorney request for Public Safety Contingency funds for two license plate reader camera systems, 2018-04-03 · Meeting record · · accessed · archived copy
  3. 3.
    Yolo County Sheriff's Office, Automated License Plate Readers policy (undated PDF on a 2016 upload path) · Primary document · accessed · archived copy · our copy (191 KB)
  4. 4.
    Yolo County Sheriff's Office Policy Manual (Lexipol 2026/04/28), Policy 430, Automated License Plate Readers · Primary document · · accessed · archived copy

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