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A kidnapping suspect was arrested in Galt Friday after police said automatic license plate reader cameras helped officers locate the vehicle.
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About 3:45 a.m. Friday, the Galt Police Department’s communications center was contacted by another law enforcement agency about “an outside agency regarding a possible kidnapping suspect and victim” believed to be in the city, according to a department release.
Within five minutes, officers located the suspect’s vehicle using automatic license plate reader cameras. The suspect was arrested on kidnapping- and narcotics-related charges, according to the release.
The victim was located nearby after a brief search and was transported to the Police Department to receive food and shelter.
Galt’s automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, technology — a system mounted in fixed locations or on police vehicles that captures license plate data — is provided by Flock Safety. The Galt City Council approved a five-year, $318,000 contract with the company in 2023.
“With the assistance of Flock, we were able to locate and apprehend the suspect within minutes, which in turn saved the victim from potential further harm,” the Galt Police Department commented on the release. “We’re grateful for this positive outcome.”
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The use of license plate readers by California law enforcement has drawn criticism from advocates who say data sharing could harm undocumented residents and people seeking reproductive or gender-affirming healthcare.
A 2016 law prohibits sharing data with out-of-state law enforcement and federal agencies, but agencies including the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the Sacramento Police Department have been accused of violating the statute.
An audit of the use of automatic license plate readers in Elk Grove released by a local advocacy group this week found that more than 3,600 organizations made more than 8.3 million searches of residents’ data over the last five years, including at least 290 agencies without data-sharing agreements and out-of-state, federal and non-governmental entities.
In a statement to The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Elk Grove Police Department said officials were “actively reviewing the claims and contents of this audit and look forward to providing additional context and clarification regarding the reported findings.”
The debate over Flock technology has also extended beyond data sharing.
Roseville police defended the accuracy of the city’s Flock system after Business Insider reported last week that more than 1,000 alerts generated between 2023 and 2024 involved license plate misreads. Roseville officials said none of the incorrect alerts resulted in a traffic stop or arrest because department policy requires officers to independently verify information before taking enforcement action.
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