In a bid to combat retail thefts and brazen robberies, Palo Alto is preparing to turn to a tool that in the past has sparked concern from privacy advocates: automated license plate readers.

The City Council will discuss on Monday a proposal from the Police Department to place cameras on fixed locations throughout the city to capture license plate data of passing vehicles. The goal would be to help officers identify stolen vehicles, track cars involved in crimes and help investigators locate perpetrators once a crime has occurred, according to a report from the department.

Automated license plate readers aren't entirely new to Palo Alto. Since 2013, the Police Department has employed one license plate reader, which is mounted on top of a patrol car. And various private entities, including Stanford Shopping Center, currently have fixed license plate readers installed, according to the report. The technology is also in use in various nearby cities, including Menlo Park, Atherton, Los Altos Hills and Santa Clara.

One of the key functions of automated license plate readers (a term that refers to both the cameras and the software that is used to transmit information) is their ability to issue real-time alerts whenever a vehicle that is associated with a crime passes by. The camera captures images of the vehicle's rear license plate and alerts the police if a stolen or wanted vehicle passes by.

Once the alert is issued, officers are required to visually confirm the plate number and check it against law enforcement databases to ensure accuracy before they make an enforcement stop, the report states. It characterizes the technology as a "cost-effective force multiplier."

"The use of fixed ALPR technology has become widespread in the region and is being used by many local police agencies to successfully locate stolen vehicles and solve other crimes where a vehicle has been used," the report states. "In recent years, ALPR technology has continued to evolve in terms of quality and accuracy, while also becoming less cost-prohibitive."

The recommendation comes at a time when the Police Department is gradually restoring its staffing following severe cuts in 2020. Before the cuts, the department had 92 sworn officer positions, Police Chief Andrew Binder said in a recent interview. Last fall, the council authorized restoring some of these positions. Even so, the department currently has 84 budgeted positions. Of those, more than five are vacant, he said.

Police staffing has also emerged as an issue in the November election, with nearly all council candidates supporting adding police staffing. One candidate, Ed Lauing, has made public safety a campaign priority while another, Alex Comsa, has specifically called for adoption of technology like automated license plate readers.

Voters will also weigh in on Measure K, a business tax, and Measure L, which would reaffirm the city's policy of transferring revenues from the gas utility to the general fund. Measure K specifically designates public safety as one of the three areas that would be supported through the business tax. Measure L has no such restrictions but it lists police as one of the areas that would be funded by the transferred revenues.

While violent crime remains uncommon in Palo Alto, the city has seen an uptick in burglaries and larcenies in recent years. According to police statistics, larceny remains by far the most common crime, with 1,356 cases in 2021, 1,571 cases in 2020 and 1,724 in 2019. In 2018, the number of larceny cases was 1,191.

Binder said in an interview that the biggest issue that the department is dealing with is property crime and the challenge of addressing the issue with existing personnel. He also noted that while violent crimes are rare, they get a lot of headlines.

"That's not lost on us. That makes people in our community feel unsafe," he said.

But while the Police Department's report highlights the advantages of adopting automated license plate readers, without proper safeguards the technology can lead to privacy intrusions, diminished trust in law enforcement and litigation, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union of California. In 2016, the ACLU issued a guide for cities looking to adopt surveillance technology. It recommends that cities pursuing such technology engage in a robust community engagement effort before adoption, clearly identify the purpose of the new technology and its costs and legal risks and consider ways in which the technology could negatively impact individual rights.

"The community at large can pay a heavy price if surveillance technology is acquired and deployed without evaluating its impact on civil rights and its potential for misuse," the ACLU report states. "Surveillance can easily intrude upon the individual rights of residents and visitors, perpetuate discriminatory policing, or chill freedom of expression, association, and religion — freedoms that public officials are sworn to protect. As a result, surveillance can erode trust in law enforcement, making it harder for officers and community members to work together to keep the community safe."

If the council opts to move ahead with installation of automated license plate readers, the department estimates that the technology would cost between $75,000 and $200,000 in the first year and between $50,000 and $150,000 in every year thereafter. Palo Alto police have reviewed the ACLU's report on surveillance technology and have invited ACLU representatives to discuss their concerns about license plate readers, the Police Department report states. To date, the organization has not been able to accommodate the city's request, according to the report.

To address the issues identified by the ACLU, the department has proposed a retention period of 30 days for license plate data for all vehicles except those identified as relevant to specific criminal investigations (other jurisdictions, the report notes, have a retention period of one year or more). Data would be encrypted and stored by a third party. Access to the data would only be granted to trained staff with legitimate law enforcement audits and all queries would be logged and subject to audit, the report states.

In advocating for license plate readers, the Police Department points to regional increases in catalytic converter thefts, auto burglaries, vehicle thefts and organized retail thefts. Those who commit the crimes, the report notes, often use a vehicle to travel to and flee from the scene.

"Identifying stolen or wanted vehicles, via fixed ALPR, as they enter a target area provides law enforcement an opportunity to intervene before additional crimes are committed, and potentially apprehend wanted persons or recover stolen property," the report states. "ALPR data also provides investigators with an additional technique to identify, locate and apprehend offenders once a crime has already occurred."