SDPD starts installing Smart Streetlights, license plate recognition tech

Rhea Caoile
·2 min read

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The San Diego Police Department is working to install new cameras and license plate recognition technologies to aid officers in solving crimes.

Through a five-year agreement with Ubicquia Inc., SDPD is installing Smart Streetlight cameras along with Automated License Plate Recognition technology by Flock Safety, the department announced Friday.

More than 100 Smart Streetlight cameras have been installed since December. The plan is to install a total of 500 cameras by June.

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The cameras can only operate in connection with an LED streetlight. SDPD says it would partner with the City of San Diego’s Transportation Department to replace any designated locations that are not already LED-equipped.

Following installation, the police department says each camera’s viewpoint is individually reviewed by SDPD’s Special Projects and Legislative Affairs Unit to prevent private property from being recorded.

SDPD has put specific privacy safeguards in place for the new technologies, including requiring training for officers and investigators before they gain access to the system and regularly auditing the system for case or event numbers.

Unless they are being used in an investigation, video recordings obtained by the Smart Streetlight cameras are deleted after 13 days and plate recognition data is deleted after 30 days.

Additionally, the ability for officers or investigators to enter license plate information for vehicles associated with or suspected of being involved with a crime can only be entered by members of the special projects and legislative affairs unit and only remain on the department’s “hotlist” for 72 hours.

Since early January, SDPD says the new technologies have helped officers and investigators with more than 22 investigations related to homicides, robberies, burglaries, assaults and stolen vehicles. The department has found 12 stolen vehicles and taken 11 suspects into custody so far from these investigations.

Christelle Koumoue contributed to this report

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