BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Police departments in San Mateo County have been lacking in their audits, data retention practices and data-sharing policies for their license plate-reading cameras, the county’s Civil Grand Jury said in a new report.
(Here’s a link to the Civil Grand Jury’s report.)
“Many of the required policy documents are deficient or need significant revision to accurately reflect current operations, and audit materials produced were inconsistent in scope and rigor,” the report said.
The grand jury — a watchdog body composed of 19 citizens — looked at the policies and practices of cities and the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office that have contracts with Flock, an Atlanta-based startup that provides license plate-reading cameras.
More than 582 license plate-reading cameras were deployed across San Mateo County as of March 30, the grand jury said. Broadmoor, a community near Daly City, is the only police force without Flock cameras.
The grand jury found that cities including Atherton and Menlo Park haven’t posted their policies in an easy-to-find place, and Redwood City’s policy is outdated.
Atherton was the first to put up Flock cameras in 2020 and now has 53 cameras. Only San Mateo and San Bruno have more.
Cities including East Palo Alto, Portola Valley and San Carlos did audits that “were insufficient to substantiate compliance with applicable California law,” the grand jury said.
Most cities have policies requiring written requests and approval before their camera data is shared with other agencies — but cities haven’t actually followed these policies, the grand jury said.
Each city and the sheriff’s office is required to respond to the report, but the grand jury doesn’t have the power to impose penalties.
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