Report 2019-118 Recommendation 51 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 #51 To: Sacramento County Sheriff's Department

To ensure that ALPR system access is limited to agency staff who have a need and a right to use ALPR data, by August 2020, Sacramento should develop and implement procedures for granting and managing user accounts that include, but are not limited to, requiring that supervisors must approve accounts for users, providing training to users before granting accounts, suspending users after defined periods of inactivity, and requiring regular refresher training for active users and training for users before reactivating previously inactive accounts. Sacramento should also ensure that it has procedures in place to deactivate an account immediately for an account holder who separates from the agency or who no longer needs a user account.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office has procedures for granting and managing ALPR user accounts. Individual ALPR user requests are submitted using a ticketing system, which requires supervisor approval. Department ALPR users are required to complete an ALPR training course before being granted access and are required to complete an approved retraining program and review the ALPR policy every two years. All ALPR accounts are currently set to deactivate after 90 days of inactivity automatically, and users with deactivated accounts must complete an approved ALPR training course before the inactive accounts are reactivated. Lastly, user accounts for personnel who separate from the Sheriff's Office or no longer need access to the ALPR system are deactivated.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

As of April 20, 2021, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department had not provided a response on the recommendations in this audit.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending

6-Month Agency Response

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department did not provide a six-month response to this recommendation.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department did not provide a 60-day response.

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

All Recommendations in 2019-118

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.