Police
City of Menlo Park 701 Laurel St., Menlo Park, CA 94025 tel 650-330-6600 www.menlopark.org
MEMORANDUM
Date: 3/21/2024
To: Chief Steven McCulley, Atherton Police Department
From: Commander W. Lau, Menlo Park Police Department
Re: Atherton Police Department – 2023 ALPR Audit Results Background:
At the request of Commander D. Larsen from the Atherton Police Department, I was engaged to perform an audit on the Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) system's 2023 data, in alignment with the requirements stipulated in their ALPR Policy 469.6 (c). This policy mandates the annual review of the ALPR system by an independent external auditor to ensure compliance and integrity of operations. The primary objective of this audit was to assess the Department's adherence to ALPR Policy 469.6- Accountability, focusing on the legitimate law enforcement purposes for accessing ALPR data.
Commander D. Larsen facilitated the audit process by providing comprehensive ALPR datasets for each month of 2023, organized within Excel spreadsheets.
Methodology:
A systematic approach was adopted for the audit, selecting one month per quarter randomly to evaluate the Atherton Police Department's compliance with policy 469.6. The months selected for in-depth analysis were January, May, July, and December. Each month's data underwent thorough examination to ascertain adherence to the stipulated policy.
Analysis:
January: Analysis of 218 ALPR searches, utilized by 11 users, revealed that 64 instances (23%) failed to include necessary incident or case numbers, contrary to policy 496.6 (d). Notably, a single employee accounted for 39% of these violations.
May: Out of 311 searches accessed by 14 users, 13 instances (4%) lacked the required documentation, with one employee responsible for 33% of these oversights.
July: This month saw 134 searches by 16 users, with 23 instances (17%) not adhering to documentation requirements. A significant 58% of these discrepancies were attributed to one individual.
December: Among 37 searches (adjusted to 32 to exclude test cases) by 9 users, only 2 instances (6%) were found non-compliant, highlighting a notable improvement in adherence to policy requirements.
Conclusion:
The audit indicates a positive trajectory towards full compliance with the ALPR policy's accountability measures, particularly evident in the December data, which showed a 94% compliance rate. This improvement underscores the Department's commitment to aligning its practices with policy standards.
Recommendation:
Despite the general trend towards improvement, the recurring recommendation across audits remains the consistent inclusion of case or incident numbers in ALPR inquiries, as mandated by policy. Additionally, the City of Menlo Park 701 Laurel Street Menlo Park, CA 94025 tel 650-330-6600 www.menlopark.org audit identified a singular employee contributing significantly to the policy violations. While the individual has not been named in this report, I remain available to discuss specific details regarding these findings to support targeted improvements in compliance and training efforts.
Respectfully submitted,
Wilson Lau
Police Commander
Menlo Park Police Department