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Police chief says SFPD is investigating how ALPR system was queried from outside California; transparency portal planned
Summary
Interim Chief Paul Yip told the Police Commission the San Francisco Police Department is investigating audit findings that out-of-state queries were logged against its automated license-plate reader (ALPR) network and will create a public transparency portal listing in-state agencies with approved access.
Interim Chief Paul Yip told the San Francisco Police Commission on Sept. 10 that the San Francisco Police Department is investigating audit findings showing queries of its flock automated license-plate reader network from agencies outside California and is launching a public transparency portal.
Why it matters: The flock ALPR system is a widely used investigative tool, and Commissioners raised whether any data sharing violated the city’s sanctuary policies and state law. The chief described immediate steps the department is taking and acknowledged historical gaps in oversight while the department traces how out-of-state queries occurred.
Yip said that when the department launched the flock system in 2024 it reviewed and approved only “requests from local state law enforcement agencies for a limited period of time,” and that an out-of-state query log in an audit prompted the review. “To my knowledge, our administrators of this system ... have…
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