City Council approves two-year Flock Safety lease for license-plate readers and live feed cameras

The Mill Valley City Council voted to approve a two-year lease agreement with Flock Safety to install six automated license-plate readers (ALPR) and two live video cameras, spending up to $50,400 over two years. The first-year cost was described as $26,400 plus a one-time $2,400 implementation fee; year-two costs were estimated at $24,000.

Police Chief Rick Navarro and Lieutenant Sean McCracken told the council the system would help locate stolen vehicles, identify vehicles linked to crimes and support evacuation monitoring. “ALPR technology has become an industry standard,” Lieutenant McCracken said, describing prior cases in which license-plate data assisted investigations across Marin County.

Council and staff also discussed privacy and data-retention safeguards. The police recommended aligning department policy to retain ALPR data for no more than 30 days for records not associated with an active criminal investigation; they also noted California law restrictions (cited in the discussion as Senate Bill 34 and Senate Bill 54) and said Mill Valley would not share data for immigration enforcement or to track reproductive-health services.

Why this matters

Police said more than 70% of U.S. crimes involve a vehicle and cited local cases where regional ALPR data helped detectives identify suspects and vehicles. Council members said residents have complained about theft and urged a measured roll-out with reporting back to the council.

Key contract and funding details

- Contract: two-year lease for 6 ALPR cameras and 2 live video cameras from Flock Safety; proposed two-year cost not to exceed $50,400. - Year 1: $26,400 plus a $2,400 one-time implementation fee; year 2: $24,000. - Funding: Council staff recommended paying a portion (roughly $7,500 per year) from Measure C (funds earmarked for evacuations) and the remainder from the city’s technology or equipment-replacement funds. Staff noted the equipment-replacement fund received a $1 million contribution in FY24 closeout.

Privacy, retention and operational use

- The department said Flock stores data in the cloud but that Mill Valley would own and control access to the data; company access is governed by the city’s instructions and written agreement. - Lieutenant McCracken said the department would modify its current ALPR policy to limit retention to 30 days for non-investigative data, consistent with the chief’s intent. - The live video feed option has configurable retention; police described an initial plan to set the live-video retention to zero days (live viewing only) for evacuation monitoring, with the council and staff able to revisit retention limits.

Council deliberation and vote

Council members largely supported the recommendation. Several asked for follow-up reporting; staff said they would provide quarterly updates to the Police Governance group and a formal council review before any contract renewal. A motion to approve the two-year agreement was moved and seconded; the council voted in favor (Council recorded the motion and vocal “Aye” roll call in the meeting transcript). The staff report recommended a pilot/lease option to minimize upfront hardware and maintenance risk.

Ending

Councilors asked staff to return with implementation metrics and a review at the contract’s renewal point. The department said the system is already in use elsewhere in Marin County and would fill an existing gap in Mill Valley’s coverage.