The Provo City Police Department utilizes Flock Safety Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology to capture objective evidence while maintaining individual privacy. According to the department's transparency portal, the technology is used for retroactive crime solving and real-time alerting of hotlist vehicles.
The ALPR system captures still images of the rear view of vehicles at set locations. These images may identify license plates, make, model, color, and other characteristics such as vehicle damage or stickers. The technology does not perform facial recognition, continuous vehicle tracking, photography of persons, or noise detection.
In a recent usage case involving a stolen license plate, a patrol officer located a vehicle after a Flock ALPR registered the plate. The driver was arrested on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges after it was discovered the vehicle was unregistered, uninsured, and the driver lacked a valid license. In another case, officers used the system to identify and stop a suspect traveling out of state who was found to have explicit pictures of juveniles on a cell phone.
Data and usage statistics show that over the last 30 days, 584,668 unique vehicle plate reads were detected by 24 ALPR cameras. During that same period, there were 65 total user search sessions and 1,413 hotlist hits from sources including the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Provo City policy states that data is owned by the city and is used for law enforcement purposes only, with a prohibition on selling data to third parties. Prohibited uses of the technology include immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment, intimidation, or usage based on a protected class.
Access to the system requires individually assigned logins, and all search information is stored indefinitely and audited. Authorized users must provide a valid search reason and a case or incident number. All hotlist hits must be verified by the Provo Police before physical action is taken.
