ALPR Usage & Privacy Policy

1. Purpose and scope

PlateSentry LLC provides software for private commercial parking management, virtual chalking, time-limit enforcement, parking authorization verification, and violation review. This policy governs ALPR information handled through PlateSentry across participating properties, including information used for recognition testing.

This policy addresses California Civil Code §§ 1798.90.5–1798.90.55. Property clients may have independent obligations as ALPR operators or end-users, including their own publicly available policies. This policy does not replace those obligations. For information about public website inquiries, see our website privacy policy.

2. Responsible official

Nathan Koff, Managing Member, is PlateSentry LLC’s designated Custodian of Records and the official responsible for implementing this policy.

The Custodian is responsible for authorizing access, overseeing training, reviewing compliance and disclosures, correcting identified deficiencies, and supervising retention and destruction.

Designated privacy contact: privacy@plate-sentry.com. If that address is unavailable, contact us at info@plate-sentry.com.

3. Information collected

• Cropped license plate images from the mobile scanner, recognized plate characters, and state of issuance when available or entered.
• Capture date and time, property or parking zone, and location coordinates when available.
• Virtual chalk observations, time-limit status, exemptions, violations, related notes, and review outcomes.
• Recognition confidence, processing time, and comparison results when a manager enables in-house ALPR testing on a device.

The mobile plate scanner stores the cropped plate region rather than the wide camera frame. Separately attached enforcement evidence and related records may contain additional information.

PlateRecognizer processes images for standard recognition. The optional in-house reader operates on the device in shadow mode: its guesses are recorded for comparison, not used to determine the production plate reading. Service providers processing ALPR information on PlateSentry’s behalf must be limited to the authorized service and applicable confidentiality and security requirements.

4. Authorized uses

• Verify parking authorization, exemptions, and property-specific time limits.
• Establish parking duration through virtual chalking and repeat sightings.
• Document suspected parking violations and review citations, tow-related records, disputes, and conversions.
• Check and improve recognition accuracy for these parking purposes, using restricted test records subject to this policy.

ALPR information must not be used for unrelated tracking, personal searches, advertising, or general surveillance. PlateSentry does not sell ALPR information or provide it to data brokers or advertisers.

5. Authorized access and training

Access is limited to individually authorized personnel with a legitimate parking-management duty. Enforcement agents may capture plates and review enforcement records within their assigned permissions and locations. Managers and administrators may review and manage records within their authorized responsibilities. Access to disputes, conversions, and administrative functions is subject to the application’s additional permissions.

Authorized technical personnel may access information only as necessary for support, security, or recognition quality, under confidentiality obligations. Contracted clients may access only information authorized for their own facilities.

Before receiving ALPR access, personnel must receive training on authorized purposes, confidentiality, account security, accuracy checks, disclosure restrictions, retention, and incident reporting. The Custodian must document training, review access periodically, and revoke access when duties or authorization end. Shared credentials and browsing for personal reasons are prohibited.

6. Accuracy and accountability

ALPR results can contain errors. Personnel must compare the recognized plate with the image or observed plate before relying on it for enforcement, confirm relevant time and location information, and correct identified inaccuracies. Uncertain reads must be checked manually rather than treated as confirmed evidence.

The Custodian must oversee accuracy checks and periodic compliance reviews. When ALPR information is accessed or provided to another person, applicable access records must identify the date and time, plate or other queried data elements, user and any recipient organization, and purpose of access. These records must be protected against unauthorized alteration and reviewed for misuse; complete record-access logging is not yet verified.

7. Retention and destruction schedule

Records are subject to the following retention limits. These are PlateSentry’s policy choices, not periods mandated by California law.

Standalone virtual chalking and repeat sightings

24 months from recording

Each chalk expires 24 calendar months after it is recorded, unless it corresponds to a retained violation.

Violations, notes, observation comments, and corresponding chalks

60 months from violation creation

Violations and their accompanying notes, observation comments, and chalk records are deleted after 60 calendar months from the violation’s creation date. Later edits do not restart this period. A chalk shared by multiple violations remains until the last linked violation expires. Independently recorded observation comments expire 60 months after the comment is recorded.

Incidental non-violation scans

60 days from capture

Scans not used as virtual chalks, repeat-sighting records, or enforcement evidence.

Chalk photos are deleted 24 months after the chalk is recorded. A photo that serves as evidence for a violation is retained with that violation and deleted when the violation expires at 60 months. Alert information and observation comments follow the 60-month schedule above. Testing does not extend retention. A non-violation scan recorded as a virtual chalk is subject to the 24-month chalking period, not the incidental-scan period.

Backups follow the same schedule: 24 months for chalks and chalk photos, and 60 months for violations, notes, alert information, and observation comments. Backups are maintained on a short rolling cycle and overwritten, so expired records leave backups when the copies taken before their deletion are replaced. Backups are not used for ordinary access, and any restored data must have expired records removed before use.

At expiration, records must be securely deleted or irreversibly anonymized, including associated images and identifiable copies. Removing a name alone does not anonymize a plate record.

A documented legal preservation obligation may suspend destruction for the affected records only. The Custodian must record the reason and scope, restrict access, review the hold, and arrange destruction when the obligation ends.

The automated record-deletion process runs nightly at 03:00 UTC across all locations, and chalk photos are deleted at 03:30 UTC; eligible records and photos are removed on the first run after expiration, normally within 24 hours. Incidental-scan classification and identifiable recognition benchmarks require additional deletion verification. Compulsory preservation requirements must be addressed with the Custodian before expiration; a written request alone does not pause the automated process.

8. Sharing and disclosures

Outside service-provider processing described above, disclosure is limited to:

• Contracted property clients: authorized access to records for their contracted facilities, solely for the parking purposes described in this policy.
• Valid compulsory legal process: disclosure required by a valid subpoena, court order, or warrant, after review of its validity, jurisdiction, and scope.

Government or law-enforcement requests alone do not authorize voluntary access. Disclosures must be limited to authorized information, documented, and approved by the Custodian. Where legally applicable, recipients must be authorized ALPR operators or end-users. Client and service-provider agreements must restrict resale, unrelated use, and unauthorized onward disclosure.

9. Security and incident response

PlateSentry requires reasonable administrative, physical, and technical safeguards against unauthorized access, use, alteration, or disclosure. These include individual authenticated accounts, role and location restrictions, encrypted transmission, protected storage, secure devices, and controlled administrative access.

Personnel must promptly report suspected misuse or unauthorized access to the Custodian. The response must include investigation, containment, preservation of relevant evidence, corrective action, and any notifications required by law.

This policy does not claim a specific encryption version, guaranteed security, or immutable audit coverage that has not been independently verified.

10. Inquiries, corrections, and policy review

Send questions, suspected inaccuracies, or privacy requests to privacy@plate-sentry.com. If unavailable, use info@plate-sentry.com.

Include enough information to locate the record, such as the plate and state, property, and approximate observation date. Do not email identity documents or other sensitive records unless a secure verification method has been arranged. We may need to verify your authority before disclosing or changing records; requests remain subject to applicable law and preservation obligations.

A privacy inquiry does not replace a client’s citation appeal procedure or extend an appeal deadline. Follow the instructions on the violation notice for an appeal.

The Custodian must review this policy periodically and when data practices change. Updates will be posted on this publicly accessible page with a revised policy date.