Report 2019-118 Recommendation 31 Responses

Report 2019-118: Automated License Plate Readers: To Better Protect Individuals' Privacy, Law Enforcement Must Increase Its Safeguards for the Data It Collects (Release Date: February 2020)

Recommendation #31 To: Marin County Sheriff's Department

To ensure that ALPR images are being shared appropriately, by April 2020, Marin should review the entities with which it currently shares images, determine the appropriateness of this sharing, and take all necessary steps to suspend those sharing relationships deemed inappropriate or unnecessary.

60-Day Agency Response

The Marin County Sheriff's Office has completed this recommendation. Detective John Pence has carefully and thoroughly reviewed every agency the Marin County Sheriff's Office currently shares APLR images with and does not believe that any current sharing relationship is inappropriate or unnecessary. Based on the report, it is the understanding of the Marin County Sheriff's Office that its sharing relationships with California Border Patrol and the Honolulu Police Department are of concern to the California State Auditor. However, the Marin County Sheriff's Office continues its sharing relationship with the California Border Patrol because of a pending capital criminal case with multiple fugitives. When this criminal case has resolved, then the Marin County Sheriff's Office will re-evaluate its sharing relationship with the California Border Patrol as to both appropriateness and necessity. As to Honolulu Police Department, despite the physical distance between the Marin County Sheriff's Office and this law enforcement agency, the multiple, daily direct routes via air travel between California and Hawaii warrant the sharing of information for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2019-118

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.