Wildomar police present Flock ALPR data; council questions coverage and limits

Lieutenant Reese, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department analyst assigned to the station serving Wildomar, told the city council the city operates 22 Flock automated license-plate–reader (ALPR) cameras placed at high-traffic locations and that the system retains 30 days of footage.

"The city of Wildomar has 22 cameras placed at high traffic volume locations," Lieutenant Reese said, and he explained that the vendor-provided statistics cover many county cameras, so local comparisons require cross-referencing the sheriff's databases. He cited a one-month capture of 1,833,449 unique plate reads across the station's cameras from Aug. 4–31 and noted that duplicate hits (vehicles seen on multiple cameras) account for larger totals on other Flock graphs.

Reese also told the council that since the cameras were deployed in 2022 Wildomar's recorded stolen-vehicle incidents have fallen — from 134 in 2022 to 33 so far in 2025 — but he cautioned, "I can't say that's totally because of the cameras," adding that enforcement, patrol activity and other factors likely contribute.

Council members asked for local, verifiable measures of effectiveness and for examples where Flock footage aided arrests. In response, Reese cited several cases where Flock searches supported investigations: deputies used ALPR results to link plates to 23 cases (thefts, hit-and-run, burglary, robbery and missing persons), and two of those resulted in four arrests. He also described one case in which cameras helped trace a repeat theft suspect from Wildomar to Corona.

Reese emphasized operational limits: deputies must use their credentials to log in and should enter an associated case number when searching, but Flock does not enforce entry of a file number; the vendor provides only 30 days of footage and does not perform facial recognition from the imagery. Council members pressed staff on whether 22 cameras are adequate, whether additional cameras have been funded, and how to ensure transparent tracking of cases tied to ALPR hits.

City staff said the station's crime analyst supplements Flock reporting with local records to produce quarterly statistics and that the city can request more-detailed data if council wants a deeper audit. The council did not take action at the meeting on camera procurement; members asked staff to return with options and case-level examples that demonstrate public-safety benefits and privacy safeguards.

The council discussion ended with an agreement to expect a staff follow-up on usage metrics, opportunities for more cameras used elsewhere in the county, and the legal and administrative safeguards for sharing vendor data with law enforcement.