Greeting to our kind Councilmembers,
Ive been lucky to live in the City of Menlo Park continuously since 1978. I’m a homeowner residing on the east side of Valparaiso Ave. near Downtown.
I thank you all for your guidance to staff and your due consideration thus far on the City’s ALPR proposal.
Having read Staff Report #24-080-CC I can see Chief Norris addressed many of the concerns Council presented in previous rounds of consideration of this subject. Yet some of his answers are found to be lacking. I respectfully submit a list of 4 observations and 6 questions regarding some sections of Chief Norris’ progress report or suggesting new concerns Council may wish to address.
The following observations lead to the list of questions I submit afterward.
Observations:
1. The Staff Report’s comparison city crime statistics show correlations, not causalities, so they don’t truly prove anything. In fact, it’s possible some other cities installed ALPR systems and then crime rates rose or were statistically unchanged.
2. As with most competitions when one team (e.g., the police) implements a measure the other team (e.g., the criminals) deploys countermeasures. Fake plates, obscured plates, or the use of stolen cars to commit property crimes will probably rise in cities with ALPR systems.
3. ALPR systems are known to generate false positives, as evidenced by recent cases in nearby communities. These sometimes lead to injury and then to lawsuits against the police.
Questions:
A. Are these all the data we need to make an informed decision?
B. Presumably there are many cities in SM or SC Counties that did not install ALPR systems during the Chief’s study period. What happened to crime statistics in such cities? Did some or many of them also enjoy reduced crime rates?
C. Does the Chief’s report suggest, but not prove, that Menlo Park will possibly achieve a 2 year property crime rate reduction of 8%-62% with no other change but the implementation of the proposed ALPR policy?
D. If the Chief believes, without proof, that an ALPR system in Menlo Park will reduce crime what reduction rate is the Chief willing to sign us up for? And will the Council hold the chief, his staff and his successors to it?
E. If the crime rate isn’t reduced by any projected post-ALPR rate then is the Council committed to to abandon the ALPR policy and its related expense? If so, then can we lock that provision into any resolution in advance?
F. Is the risk of ALPR system false-positives causing injuries or expensive lawsuits worth the cost and effort to consider, much less implement, an ALPR system?
In closing let me encourage each of you to keep letting more and better data lead us to the best overall decision. Thank you for your consideration.
Best regards,
Rich Wipfler
1045 Valparaiso Ave
Menlo Park
