Wednesday, May 6, 2026

County Oversight Panel Asks Altadena, Pasadena Residents to Weigh In on License Plate Surveillance

[photo credit: Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission, L.A. County]

Tonight’s virtual forum examines how the Sheriff’s Department uses automated readers and whether the data is protected from federal immigration enforcement

The cameras mounted on streetlights and patrol cars throughout Altadena read every license plate that passes. Tonight, the county agency that oversees the Sheriff’s Department wants to know what residents think about that.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission holds a virtual public forum from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday on the department’s use of automated license plate readers, the high-speed cameras that scan millions of plates weekly across the county. The forum, mandated by the Board of Supervisors last September, will focus on data-sharing safeguards and potential protections against the technology’s use in federal immigration enforcement. The Commission, created by the Board of Supervisors in 2016 to provide independent oversight of the LASD, is accepting public comment through Webex registration at bit.ly/coc-alpr.

Altadena, an unincorporated community, is policed by the LASD’s Altadena Station, which also covers Northeast Pasadena and Pasadena Glen. That makes ALPR policy set by the Sheriff’s Department a direct concern for local residents. The Commission’s own forum description states that immigrant communities face fears that everyday activities — traveling to work, taking children to school, seeking medical care — could expose them to tracking and data sharing, according to the Commission’s published notice.

Six panelists will take questions from the public: Commission Chair Hans Johnson; Executive Director Sharmaine Moseley; Dara Williams of the LA County Inspector General’s Office; UCLA School of Law lecturer Melodi Dincer, an affiliated fellow with UCLA’s Institute of Technology, Law and Policy whose work focuses on data privacy and surveillance; LASD Commander Ernest Bille; and Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Salas grew up in Pasadena after arriving from Durango, Mexico, at age five, according to a 2025 interview with Zocalo Public Square.

The forum stems from the Board of Supervisors’ September 16, 2025, motion titled “Safeguarding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) Data to Restore Community Trust and Prevent Improper Civil Immigration Enforcement,” authored by Supervisors Hilda L. Solis and Janice Hahn. The motion directed the Commission to hold at least one annual public forum on ALPR use after reports that some Southern California law enforcement agencies had shared plate data with federal authorities. CalMatters reporting cited by the Board found that roughly a dozen agencies shared such data, though it did not find LASD among them. The motion also directs that ALPR data shall not be disclosed for civil immigration enforcement purposes except when expressly required by state or county law or pursuant to a judicial warrant.

The LASD operates more than 900 automated readers across the county. The department told the Los Angeles Times in 2025 that it operates 931 such cameras, and the LA County Office of the Inspector General has reported 44 additional cameras on patrol vehicles. The department currently retains plate data for five years — among the longer retention periods in the state, according to the Daily Bruin. The Board’s motion requests a reduction to 60 days for unflagged records. Under state law, SB 34 requires every ALPR operator to publish a usage-and-privacy policy, train authorized users, and log every query and data export.

Sheriff Robert Luna said in a January 2026 letter that the department could not meet the Board’s deadline for updating its privacy policy, citing the need to consult with labor unions. The department has said it would provide updates every 90 days.

“Strong oversight is public safety,” Johnson said when he was elected Commission chair last July.

The forum will be livestreamed on the Commission’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/@LACountyCOC. Phone access is available at (213) 306-3065, access code 2531 966 3759, password 262123.

The cameras do not distinguish between a commuter heading to work on Lake Avenue and a parent dropping a child at school. The forum tonight offers one of the few chances for the people captured in those images to have a say in what happens to them.