Hermosa Beach approves federal‑funded real‑time crime center software and ALPRs for enforcement and investigations

The Hermosa Beach City Council unanimously approved purchases Tuesday to advance a federally funded mobile real‑time crime center: a Peregrine Technologies data‑integration subscription and a three‑year automated license‑plate reader (ALPR) deployment.

Council authorized a professional services agreement with Peregrine Technologies for an integrated analytics platform (a cited not‑to‑exceed amount of $122,815 in the staff report) to consolidate the city’s CAD, RMS, in‑car video, ALPR, citation and document systems into a single searchable interface. The council also approved a separate purchase of ALPR hardware and associated services for an amount not to exceed $210,000 over a three‑year term. Staff said both purchases are funded by the federal grant secured for the project.

Interim City Manager Steve Napolitano and the police department framed the purchases as part of a larger $963,000 federal award to establish a mobile real‑time crime center and related hardware. Police said Peregrine will provide a “single pane of glass” for investigators and incident commanders, allowing analysts and officers to search integrated data more quickly during investigations and critical incidents. Chief Phillips said the system will help in both investigative follow‑up and operational response.

The ALPR package is intended both for crime‑fighting and to modernize parking enforcement. Staff explained the city currently has a mix of fixed and mobile ALPR vendors with varying data retention policies: Vigilant (Motorola) has a one‑year retention for hits, Flock Technologies retains imagery for about 30 days, and proposed Genetec retention for ALPR reads would be about three months. Staff said vehicles that match hot lists (for example, stolen vehicles or plates associated with violent crime) would generate alerts for officers in the field.

Privacy and oversight questions were raised during public comment. A speaker asked about the volume of license‑plate reads and retention. Chief Phillips described department policy, CJIS/CLETS compliance, required training, audit trails and criminal‑investigation controls, noting misuse of law‑enforcement data can be a misdemeanor and that the department performs audits of system access.

Council members asked about interoperability with neighboring agencies; staff said several South Bay and Southern California jurisdictions use the same platforms and that data can be shared where appropriate. Council approved both purchases on unanimous roll call votes.

City staff said they will report operational metrics and continue to seek additional grant funding after initial deployment.