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City releases memo after ALPR misconfiguration; residents press for review of camera policy
Summary
City staff told council that older vigilant ALPR cameras had an incorrect agency listing that could have allowed access by the San Diego Sector Border Patrol; the city deactivated the older cameras and said the new Flock system excludes federal and out‑of‑state access. Public speakers asked for a council agenda item and audits.
Interim City Manager told the Pleasanton City Council that staff had found errors in the city’s previous ALPR (automatic license‑plate reader) configuration and posted a memo describing the issue on the city website.
“As we found in the memo, there were errors that were made that could have allowed one federal agency — the San Diego Sector Border Patrol — to access individual license plate data through the Vigilant system,” the interim city manager said, adding that the older Vigilant cameras were deactivated and that the city’s current Flock system “is specifically configured to exclude access by all federal and out‑of‑state agencies.”
Councilmembers and several public commenters asked for additional transparency and a formal discussion of the city’s ALPR use and audit practices. Public commenter Andrew Shotland urged the council to put ALPRs on a future agenda, citing reports that ALPR systems can misread plates and that audits elsewhere have uncovered misuse. “I request the city council direct staff to place the use of ALPRs on a future agenda item for public discussion,” Shotland said.
City staff told the council the last remaining deactivated Vigilant camera remains physically mounted on a Caltrans‑controlled pole and the city is working with Caltrans to remove it. Staff said the older Vigilant devices were left operating at three locations after the contract ended, but the system’s older configuration could not confirm whether prior searches had occurred. The city emphasized that it has deactivated the legacy cameras and that the current system was configured to restrict federal access.
