Palm Springs City Council discusses use of Automated License Plate Readers on private property
Palm Springs City Council is moving ahead with a plan to expand the use of Automatic License Plate Readers, also known as ALPRs, on private property.
A motion carried on a 3 to 2 vote and will continue to be addressed by the City Council with the help of the Palm Springs Police Department.
Automatic License Plate Readers are already installed throughout several valley cities. Just off of Ramon Road and San Luis Rey Drive, three are visible to the naked eye.
"I have concerns with ring cameras, right? But those are prevalent now. You see them everywhere you go. There's all sorts of technology that we have not regulated," said Palm Springs Councilmember, Grace Garner. "Now we're looking at this and it just grows with concern."
On Thursday the Palm Springs City Council tried to determine how the city and its police department could utilize these license plate readers on private property.
Privacy was just one of many concerns.
"If you're walking down the street or on the sidewalk, or probably even in your own front yard, you don't have a right of privacy against being photographed or filmed," said Palm Spring City Attorney, Jeffrey Ballinger. "So the regulation of these cameras on private property would essentially be the city expanding the privacy rights of members of the public in those public areas."
Another point of contention was determining who has access to the data.
"I'm perfectly happy, if we just follow a staff recommendation, with the addition that the data is only accessible to the police department, and not even deal with the question of private residents or private business," said Palm Springs Mayor Pro Tem, Ron deHarte. "
I had the opportunity to speak with Palm Springs Police officials who have been using ALPRs throughout the city since they were approved by the City Council back in October.
Spokesperson with the Palm Springs Police Department, Lt. Gustavo Araiza says the department has tracked ten cases where license plate readers have helped close an investigation or led to an arrest. This data was collected since the ALPRs were first installed.
“We've had a couple of burglaries that were solved out of the data, we got a couple of grand thefts, we also had an incident where there was a human trafficker that had a warrant and were able to hone in on that vehicle and make an arrest out of that. But there's also been incidents of weapons violations, where it lead to additional leads or an arrest," added Lt. Gustavo Araiza.
Mayor Bernstein wrapped up the discussion with this proposed motion, saying in part, "Any camera that is on private property, whether it's a residence or HOA or otherwise, it would have to be either the exclusive use of the police, under our current policy with Flock, or our police are not involved in the monitoring of it, but could accept data at a later date if so provided."
Again that motion carried with a 3 to 2 vote.
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