01/09/2025
In an effort to solve and deter criminal activity, the Montesano Police Department has entered into an agreement with Flock Safety to add three automatic license plate reading cameras to the jurisdictional boundaries of the City of Montesano. The Montesano Police Department wishes to remain transparent to the public in an effort to maintain the public's trust.
These cameras are used to capture license plates of vehicles that are or may be, associated with criminal activities occurring in or around the City of Montesano. These cameras are NOT speed enforcement cameras nor can they be used to monitor traffic violations that occur. They merely take a photograph of the vehicle and license plates of those vehicles, they do NOT capture video.
License plate numbers give the Montesano Police Department actionable leads needed to solve investigations. Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology, also known as License Plate Recognition, provides automated detection of license plates. ALPR is used by the Montesano Police Department to convert data associated with vehicle license plates for official law enforcement purposes, including identifying stolen or wanted vehicles, stolen license plates, and missing persons. ALPRs may also be used to gather information related to active warrants, homeland security, electronic surveillance, suspect interdiction, and stolen property recovery.
As part of the Montesano Police Department policy and procedure for the use of these ALPR cameras, the following applies to all members of our department:
Use of an ALPR is restricted to the purposes outlined below. Department personnel shall not use, or allow others to use, the equipment or database records for any unauthorized purpose.
1. An ALPR shall only be used for official and legitimate law enforcement business.
2. An ALPR may be used in conjunction with any patrol operation or official department investigation. Reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before using an ALPR.
3. Any member of this department using the ALPR system to search for vehicles shall enter the case number associated with the investigation and the purpose of the search into the ALPR system.
4. No member of this department shall operate ALPR equipment, or access ALPR data, without first completing department-approved training.
5. If practicable, the officer should verify an ALPR response through the Central Computerized Enforcement Service System (ACCESS) before taking enforcement action that is based solely upon an ALPR alert.
6. Persons approved to access ALPR data under these guidelines are permitted to access the data for legitimate law enforcement purposes only, such as when the data relates to a specific criminal investigation or department-related civil or administrative action.
ALPR DATA COLLECTION AND RETENTION
All data and images gathered by an ALPR are for the official use of the Montesano Police Department, and because such data may contain confidential ACCESS information, it is not open to public review. ALPR information gathered and retained by this department may be used and shared with prosecutors or others only as permitted by law.
We believe these cameras will make our community safer and allow law enforcement some more tools to assist us in holding those who commit crimes within and around our city, accountable thereby providing a sense of justice to the victims.
For articles related to other Washington State Law Enforcement Agencies successes with these cameras check out Flock Safety's website. https://www.flocksafety.com/press?type=News+Article&location=Washington
