By Mary O’KEEFE

In the last 14 days, deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.-Crescenta Valley Station have located three stolen vehicles found, in part, due to cameras recently deployed throughout the area.
The Crescenta Valley Station, the City of La Cañada Flintridge and Flock Safety entered into a partnership in which numerous Flock Safety cameras were deployed throughout the City of La Cañada Flintridge. The cameras use automatic license plate recognition technology that can read the plates of passing vehicles, according to a LASD release.
“It can read license [plates] during the day or night, at any speed,” said Sgt. John Gilbert, CV Sheriff’s Station.

The plates are read and if the car has been reported stolen or if the vehicle plates are connected to an owner who has an outstanding warrant for arrest it will notify the station within 30 seconds to a minute, Gilbert added.

He said the system is not intended to be used in locating minor crime offenders, like those with overdue tickets.

“It’s only for serious felonies,” Gilbert said.

There had been some privacy concerns voiced by members of the public, which Gilbert addressed.

“Anyone who is driving upon a public roadway with a car that is registered with the DMV is allowed to be observed,” he said.

A similar camera system has been used for many years at the CV Station. It is attached to one of the patrol vehicles and captures images of the plates of vehicles on the roadway. That data is then immediately shared with the deputy driving the patrol vehicle.

According to the Flock website, the Flock Safety cameras can read vehicle license plates from up to 75 feet away. The images are then uploaded to a secure Cloud server.

On Oct. 12 the Flock Camera system notified deputies of a reported stolen vehicle in the area. They were able to find the driver and the vehicle at the Ralphs Market parking lot, where the vehicle was recovered and an arrest was made.