CrimeBeat: What does license-plate reading parking enforcement do with its data?

+-CrimeBeat Q&A is a weekly feature where reporters answers readers' questions about local crimes and the law.

I see Santa Rosa Parking Enforcement cars with license-plate reading cameras on city streets. How effective are they, and, more importantly, how is the collected data stored and shared?

Santa Rosa has two vehicles equipped with license-plate reading cameras to ticket parking offenders. Most of their use is limited to six residential zones in the city with parking restrictions. While they're more efficient than manually chalking car tires, they haven't resulted in more parking citations since the first vehicle was purchased in 2011.

Privacy concerns triggered state legislation in 2015 that limits how long license-plate data can be stored and how it is shared. In December the Santa Rosa City Council adopted a new privacy policy, based on the state law, to limit storage of license-plate data to 48 hours for legally parked vehicles.

Santa Rosa purchased a Ford Escape hybrid, equipped with license-plate reading cameras, in 2011 for $64,957. In 2014, the city purchased a second enforcement vehicle, a Ford Fiesta, for $47,430. The city spends just over $20,000 a year to maintain the two vehicles.

The vehicles have two cameras, one to capture a parked vehicle in its surroundings and the other to target the license plate. The photos are tagged with the date, time and GPS location of the parked vehicles.

When the cameras detect a car parked downtown or in a residential neighborhood for longer than the permitted time, the parking enforcement officer - aka “meter maid” - behind the wheel is notified, stops the vehicle and issues a citation.

If digital images captured by the cameras do result in a citation, the city can store the images until the citation is paid or canceled. The parking data is also not shared with law enforcement, although the Santa Rosa Police Department's “hot sheet,” or list of stolen cars, is synced with the license-plate reading cameras' computer system. Police are notified when a stolen vehicle is identified but that doesn't happen very often, said Kim Nadeau, parking manager for the city of Santa Rosa.

Santa Rosa city code prohibits license-plate reading cameras from being used for the “arbitrary viewing of citizens” and traffic enforcement.

While police departments around the Bay Area have employed license-plate reading cameras for surveillance and enforcement - causing concern among privacy advocates - Santa Rosa police do not have any cameras and no plans to purchase them, said traffic bureau Sgt. Chad Heiser.

The two vehicles with license-plate reading cameras haven't reduced staffing levels in the parking division, said Nadeau. The parking department issues roughly 35,000 citations a year, the majority from chalking tires and on-foot parking enforcement. All, including the technology, come with the personal touch of a ticket left under the windshield wiper. Parking tickets brought the city roughly $1.25 million in revenue for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Submit your questions about crime, safety and criminal justice to Staff Writer Nick Rahaim at 707-521-5203 or nick.rahaim@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nrahaim.