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Police say overall crime is down and mail-theft arrests used ALPR data; residents urge suspension of Flock cameras
Summary
Chief Matt Tamayo reported an overall decline in crime and credited a regional mail-theft task force and ALPR data in arrests; two residents urged the council to suspend the city's Flock ALPR system pending security and privacy reviews, and council asked staff for written follow-up.
Chief Matt Tamayo gave the Rancho Cordova Police Department’s annual update, saying city crime has fallen and highlighting targeted operations and the department’s partnership with the U.S. Postal Inspector Service on mail-theft investigations.
"I can promise you that overall, crime is down in the city," Tamayo said, outlining a roughly 11% decrease year over year followed by a further 15% drop and an aggregate decline of about 25% across two reporting periods. He said some increases in robbery were driven by petty-theft incidents that escalated, and that motor-vehicle thefts and many property crimes have declined.
Tamayo said the department formalized a partnership with the Postal Inspector Service in 2025 and that ALPR data contributed to significant mail-theft arrests: "Since our Flock network went live, we had 19 mail theft arrests and 13 of them were as a result of Flock," he said, adding that Flock was one investigative tool rather than the sole basis for prosecutions.
Public commenters asked for a suspension of the Flock system. Caitlin Sheehan cited cases and audits from other jurisdictions and urged the city to "suspend the system until we confirm no unintended illegal use has occurred and the public have more consideration in the implementation." Autumn Grishap described technical vulnerabilities, low MFA adoption historically and examples of misuse documented elsewhere, and asked the council to prioritize less invasive safety measures and consider removing the cameras.
Chief Tamayo acknowledged problems reported elsewhere and said local controls were in place: he said Rancho Cordova’s system "didn't share with anybody out of state. We didn't share it with any federal agencies," and that the city’s IT staff and the vendor had taken steps to secure sharing settings.
Council response and next steps: Council members asked staff to prepare a written response to resident concerns describing how the city uses and secures ALPR data and to identify where improvements are warranted. The chief and city manager said they would provide documentation to address questions about data sharing, security controls and uses of Flock data in investigations.
No change to the vendor contract or suspension was enacted at this meeting; council asked staff to report back in writing and continue the conversation.
