Sheriff's office explains ALPR/Flock Safety camera program; retention, ownership, and uses outlined
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Summary
Captain Ives told the council the Orange County Sheriff's Department owns ALPR data, Flock Safety maintains equipment, recordings are retained six months unless tied to an investigation, and access is restricted to trained personnel under OCSD policy.
Captain Ives of the Orange County Sheriff's Department updated the Mission Viejo City Council on the department's automated license plate reader (ALPR) program and the cameras installed by Flock Safety across the city.
Ives said camera placement was chosen to maximize coverage with limited funding, focusing on likely entry and exit routes and key intersections. "We only had funding for a limited number of cameras, so we placed them in areas where people were most likely to enter and leave the city," he said.
He clarified data ownership and retention: the Orange County Sheriff's Department is the owner of the information stored for evidentiary and investigative purposes; Flock Safety maintains the servers and equipment. Ives said OCSD's retention policy is currently six months for routine recordings and that any footage retained longer would be tied to an ongoing investigation and accompanied by a case number. He also described access controls: only department members who have completed required ALPR training and are authorized to operate the equipment may use the system, and sharing of ALPR data with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies is done on a case‑by‑case basis and as authorized by law. Requests by non-law-enforcement public agencies must be processed through the records division as a public records request.
Ives offered recent examples where ALPR and the city's cameras assisted deputies: tracking a felony vehicle that exited the freeway, locating a suspect in violation of a restraining order, and helping locate a suspect wanted for an assault and criminal threats. "Upon confirmation of the license plate, they took him into custody," Ives said of one arrest credited to ALPR and PTZ camera coordination.
OCSD policy references: Ives directed members of the public to the sheriff's website for the agency's ALPR policies and specifically referenced OCSD policy numbers discussed during the meeting.
What council asked next: council members requested clarification on who authorizes camera relocation (Ives said cameras will remain in current locations), how long recordings are kept, and what public‑records procedures apply to ALPR data. The council also heard that a third party (Flock Safety) maintains equipment while OCSD retains data ownership.
Next steps: no formal action was taken; the presentation was an informational update with councilmember questions about oversight and public-records access.