Overview
- San Diego’s Public Safety Committee voted 4–0 to recommend reauthorizing 54 police technologies, including automated license-plate readers and smart streetlight cameras.
- Police report the ALPR program has aided 600 investigations, led to more than 420 arrests, recovered at least 20 firearms and $5.8 million in stolen property tied to 440 stolen vehicles, and helped solve four homicides.
- Privacy advocates warn about mass data collection and vendor behavior, citing documented data-sharing controversies in Texas and Illinois that raised concerns about federal immigration access.
- SDPD acknowledged an early roughly three-week vendor configuration lapse that allowed other California agencies to access data, later corrected, and said an omission in its 2024 surveillance report was an oversight.
- Officials say the department adopted Privacy Advisory Board recommendations and posts weekly public audits, with a City Council vote expected in December as Mayor Todd Gloria publicly backs the technology.