San Francisco, CA – Today Mayor London N. Breed issued an Executive Directive requiring City Departments to work together to implement a solution to prevent stolen cars from being unnecessarily ticketed, and to ensure that victims of vehicle theft are promptly notified when their car is identified by a Parking Control Officer. The Mayor directed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to identify a technological solution to this issue, and to develop any necessary legislation to fix any local laws that prohibit its use.
Currently, under state law, SFMTA Parking Control Officers (PCOs) cannot access the San Francisco Police database known as the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS), to see a list of cars that are reported as stolen. PCOs can input data into a system that would allow them to be notified that a car they are ticketing has been stolen, but to do so manually as every single ticket is issued would be an inefficient and wasteful process.
However, the use of automated license plate readers as tickets are issued is a technological solution to this issue that would be efficient and effective and would alert PCOs if the ticket they are issuing is for a car that has been reported stolen.
Expanding the use of certain technology by City Departments is governed by a local law called Administrative Code 19B, which requires a long review and approval process for any new technology that uses cameras. Even though the PCOs already utilize this tool, they still have to go through a bureaucratic process to use it in a new way, including the ability to identify victims of car theft.
The Mayor’s Executive Directive identifies this as an issue and directs Departments to develop legislation to override any existing prohibitions on the use of technology for this purpose, including in Chapter 19B.
“Victims of car theft should not be suffering insult to injury by being unnecessarily ticketed when they’ve reported their car stolen to the police,” said Mayor Breed. “We have the technology to solve this problem, but unfortunately, we have a local bureaucratic process in the way that we will have to work through. But we will put the tools in place necessary to ensure victims of car theft are treated fairly and supported.”
The Executive Directive can be found here.
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