Written Communications – Item 8.1
Received10/ 17/ 23 - Salvador
From: Jordan Salvador <
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2023 4: 39 PM
To: CityClerk < CityClerk@chulavistaca. gov>
Cc: Roxana Kennedy < rkennedy@chulavistapd. org>
Subject: Flock Proposal E-Comment
Good Afternoon,
Per Chief Kennedy, I was to send my statement regarding the Flock proposal for today's city council meeting. My comment was extensive and could not be fit in the e-comment section of the website. Thestatement is below and I appreciate your help! Good Evening Honorable Mayor and Council Members,
Unfortunately, I cannot make the City Council meeting tonight regarding the Flock proposal, but it would be irresponsible of me to not share my thoughts regarding this incredible law enforcement technology to assist my counterparts, supervision and command staff in their efforts to get this approved.
For the past couple of years, I have instructed on various law enforcement technologies and databases to our department, which also include our current license plate reader ( LPR) program, Vigilant. Additionally, as an end user, I have utilized Vigilant to the max potential that it could be used, thus I am very familiar with its capabilities, benefits and pitfalls. I truly believe that Flock is a necessary and important tool to public safety within the City of Chula Vista. For months, I have spent hours and hours speaking with Officers/ Deputies from various law enforcement agencies who utilize Flock, observing Flock being utilized in a field/ investigative setting and conducting research country wide on Flock.
Flock, in essence, captures ONLY license plate and vehicle description information at specific and strategic LPR camera locations within the city. It varies slightly from Vigilant being that the Vigilant LPR program is sourced from LPR’s that are mobile, such as repossession trucks, tow trucks, etc. Meaning that the data we receive from Vigilant is dependent on sources outside of our control. Additionally, the police department is equipped with very limited patrol vehicle LPR cameras as they are very costly, difficult to maintain and again, only captures LPR data in locations that specific patrol vehicle LPR is located. With Flock, these LPR cameras can be placed and moved to strategic points within the city that captures live data of license plates and vehicle descriptions. Meaning that the data that is vital to our department and investigations is now sourced strategically to locations important to us.
It would be accurate to say that auto theft crimes are significantly up in not only the City of Chula Vista, but everywhere countywide. In my conversations and review of other law enforcement agencies, I found that Officers/ Deputies are locating unoccupied and occupied stolen vehicles at an extremely high rate. This has resulted in more arrests, more crime cases resolved and ultimately the recovery and return of property to the victims. This effect sends a strong message to victims that the police department is working on reducing a longstanding problem to provide them safety and security. In addition, Officers/ Deputies have stated that they are often times recovering stolen vehicles hours after those vehicles are stolen. As police departments nationwide try to find creative and new ways to reduce auto theft within their cities, I believe Flock is an important of that.
In addition to the apprehension and recov ery of wanted vehicles, Flock provides Officers / Detectives to solve violent crime in an expeditious manner, leading to a reduction in future violent crime, solving investigations and providing safety, security and resolution to the victims and their famil ies. This is due to the incredible way that Flock aids in the identification of vehicles. If Officers have the ability to find a suspect vehicle in Flock ( which is highly likely due to the strategic value of the LPR cameras), it aids them in the investigative follow up. This includes Written Communications – Item 8.1
Received10/ 17/ 23 - Salvador
identifying the suspect vehicle, identifying the suspect driver through law enforcement databases, gives us ability to find further surveillance cameras in the travel path of the vehicle, create photograph lineups, write arrest warrants and ultimately resolving the case.
In speaking with agencies that utilize Flock, I learned that a large majority of crime cases are resolved at the patrol level, which is incredible. Flock has huge impacts for our department such as increased p roactivity, development and productivity for our officers, reduction in crime case load for our already overwhelmed detectives and increased morale. Flock has huge impacts for our community because it allows Officers to be more aware of criminal activity present, crime cases will be resolved at a quicker level, future crime will be deterred and victims will receive the necessary justice they deserve to have.
Below are a few specific examples of Flock expeditiously aiding in law enforcement investigations.
On Sunday August 20, 2023, a male suspect shot the victim with a rifle and shot at the victims boyfriend in the City of Whittier, CA. The suspect abducted the female victim, leaving the victim’ s boyfriend behind. It was unknown where the suspect and victim fled to. Hours later, Detectives from the Whittier Police Department discovered the victim’ s phone pinging in Moreno Valley in Riverside County. Deputies from the Riverside Sheriff’ s Department responded and did not locate the victim. Armed with only the suspect vehicle description ( no license plate), a description of the suspect and the time of the ping, Deputies utilized Flock and combed through several hours of data. Through their review of Flock and hours after the crime occurred in Whittier, they id entified the suspect and suspect vehicle as he stopped briefly in Moreno Valley to buy a drink at a nearby convenience store. This information was passed along to Whittier Detectives, who ultimately arrested the suspect the next morning. This crime was solved and the victim’ s remains were recovered in the less than 36 hours, due to Flock.
Man charged with death of 19- year- old woman found in Moreno Valley - KESQ In December of 2022, Deputies from the Riverside Sheriff Department responded to a shooting that occurred, where a 15 year old juvenile was shot. As Deputies responded to the scene, the male juv enile later died on scene.
There were no witnesses to the actual crime, but a witness provided a suspect vehicle description and direction of travel. As Deputies were on scene for a few minutes, the ONLY suspect information they received was a detailed description of the vehicle and direction of travel. Within the hour and due to the utilization of Flock, the suspect and suspect vehicle were identified BEFORE the investigation even formally began. The suspect was arrested days later.
Teen Fatally Shot in Moreno Valley, Shooter at Large - MyNewsLA. com As stated before, I utilize all of the law enforcement databases available to us and instruct Officers on them, including LPR systems in place such as Vigilant. I truly believe Flock is a necessary database and one that plays an incredible benefit to our department and the City of Chula Vista. Flock provides the department and our officers with an expeditious tool in identifying, arresting and resolving crime within the City of Chula Vista. Not only do those impacts serve our department, but it also serves all law enforcement agencies within the County due to the incredible technology we hope to possess. I hope you all will approve this grant and contract to aid in the police departments goal of providing the best law enforcement service we can.
K-9 Officer Salvador
Written Communications – Item 8.1
Received10/ 17/ 23 - Salvador
Thankyou,
Officer Jordan Salvador
Dual PurposeK-9 Handler, Narcotics and Patrol
PatrolDivision
ChulaVista PoliceDepartment
315 Fourth Ave, ChulaVista, CA91910
Work: 619-385-6754
Dispatch: 619-691-5151
[email protected]