Council Says Mill Valley Has Opted Out of Statewide/Nationwide ALPR Lookups; Retention Cut to 72 Hours

Public commenters urged the council to pause or further review the city’s contract with Flock Safety license‑plate readers, citing reports of breaches in other jurisdictions. In response, Vice Mayor Joaquim and city staff summarized the police governance subcommittee review and said Mill Valley’s deployment is narrowly focused at key ingress/egress points and does not participate in statewide or nationwide automated‑lookup networks.

Vice Mayor Joaquim told the council Mill Valley "has opted out of both nationwide and statewide lookup tools and conducts ongoing reviews and internal audits to confirm no unintended or improper access to our ALPR data." The subcommittee also recommended more oversight and transparency; the police department will publish a written report and a frequently asked questions item on the city website.

Technical and operational changes: Staff said the Mill Valley Police Department does not use facial recognition or AI software with the two pan‑tilt‑zoom cameras and has reduced video retention from seven days to 72 hours to limit the amount of stored data. Councilmembers cited local examples where ALPR matches helped officers locate vehicles linked to weapons caches and argued the narrow deployment supports public safety while acknowledging the need for ongoing oversight.

Next steps and oversight: The council asked the police governance subcommittee to continue auditing access logs and to post the chief’s written report online. Councilmembers encouraged members of the public with concerns to contact the vice mayor or council liaison for follow‑up and emphasized internal audit processes and configuration reviews would continue.