Peninsula City Launches License Plate-Reader Program

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A Peninsula city known for its blue-collar roots has added a new tech tool to its crime-fighting arsenal.

South San Francisco has launched a Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) program that city officials said will help reduce crime, especially in the community’s hotel corridor, which has seen a spike in property crimes, police said.

The city has installed 28 solar-powered cameras at publics locations citywide, police said.

“The use of this technology has already proven to be a game changer in the fight against crime and a valuable tool for our officers to help solve otherwise difficult-to-solve cases,” SSF Police Chief Scott Campbell said in a statement.

“The safety of our residents and visitors is paramount and the investment in this program shows how committed we are to keeping South San Francisco a safe place.”

Plate-reader programs are currently used in 2,000 cities across 40 states, and law enforcement agencies have reported crime reductions of up to 70 percent when these cameras are deployed in their communities, police said.

But a digital civil rights advocacy group questions such assertions.

“ALPR vendors, like other surveillance salespeople, operate on the assumption that surveillance will reduce crime by either making would-be criminals aware of the surveillance in hopes it will be a deterrent, or by using the technology to secure convictions of people that have allegedly committed crimes in the neighborhood,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation reports.

“However, there is little empirical evidence that such surveillance reduces crime.”

The cameras send real-time alerts to local police when a stolen car, a known wanted suspect from a state or national crime database, or a vehicle associated with a missing person in an AMBER or SILVER Alert enters the city, police said.

City officials promise to respect the privacy of residents in its use of the surveillance tool, noting that each search requires a justification, and the data is never sold or shared with third parties.

They are not “live cameras” and are not intended for minor traffic or parking violations, police said.

SSF’s Transparency Portal will include data from the ALPR program, police said.

“Maintaining the privacy of the data collected through ALPR cameras remains a high priority and using the ALPR cameras will be limited to solving or deterring property and serious crimes and not used for traffic offenses,” South San Francisco Mayor Mark Nagales said in a statement.