ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - While some categories are up and others down, overall crime in Elk Grove in 2025 dropped by about 2%.

In the annual report at the City Council’s March 25 meeting, Police Chief Bobby Davis presented statistics detailing department activities over the 365 days concluding on Dec. 31. Those included stats on activity, personnel, conduct and community engagement, with Davis pointing to funding initiatives such as Measure E that helped the department to put more officers on the streets and more staff internally to respond to community safety needs.

Most of the department’s over $79.28 million total budget in 2025 comes from the city’s General Fund, just short of $69.23 million. Davis said additional funding, particularly almost $6.76 million from Measure E, helped the department to fill vacant positions, with more than 95% of sworn positions and just over 90% of professional staff positions now filled.

Approved in November 2022 with 54.3% yes votes, Measure E enacted a one-cent local sales tax to address a number of community services including “reducing crime, addressing homelessness, improving 911, police, fire and emergency disaster and medical response.”

Measure E funding, together with state grants, has led to some crime and traffic statistics increasing, the result of more officers on the streets. Total citations issued in 2025 was 9,308, an increase of 19% over 2024 figures of 7,827.

Also up were driving under the influence (DUI) arrests at 252, an increase of 10% over 2024.

Davis said this is a result of hiring five new motorcycle officers, along with an increased emphasis on DUI enforcement such as more patrols, setting up seven DUI checkpoints and five “side show” operations. A grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety helped to pay for these measures.

Unfortunately, collisions increased 25%, from 1,125 to 1,403 in 2025, with 10 fatalities in 2025 compared to six in 2024. Davis said in response to this the department is conducting a year-long traffic safety analysis to identify trends, high-risk locations and what additional education is needed to bring those stats down.

“We spend a lot of time working on traffic in our community,” Davis said.

Overall calls for service in 2025 were up 10% from 2024 at 99,875, with about 54% of these public initiated. Overall, in 2025, Elk Grove dispatchers handled 157,948 calls, including 52,969 911 calls.

Crimes against persons dropped 1% to 887, with property crimes down 6% at 3,337. Crimes against society, primarily weapons violations and DUI/drug offenses, were up 23% to 703, a statistic Davis said was driven by more and enhanced enforcement made available by Measure E.

Overall, arrests increased in 2025 by 11%, 2,376 from 2,102 in 2024.

“Less than 1% of all contacts in 2025 involved the use of force,” Davis said, adding that use of force included simple moves such as rear wrist locks.

Prior to the police report, City Council members received a presentation on the city’s automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology and program. According to a presentation by the Police Department’s Real Time Information Center (RTIC) manager Andrea Cortez, the department has been using the technology since 2008, but moved to a new company, Flock, in 2022 after a year-long trial.

According to the Flock website, the cameras record the license plates and aspects of the vehicle such as make, model, color and other identifying characteristics like bumper stickers, decals and damage. This information is uploaded to a Cloud-type storage where, using artificial intelligence, Flock’s software turns the information into a searchable database law enforcement can use in investigations into locating stolen vehicles, vehicles linked to missing individuals and other potential crimes.

The department currently has 87 Flock automatic license plate readers installed around Elk Grove. Cortez said accessing this data is only done through request.

“There are no automatic inquiries from this database,” she said, adding it takes an actual end user to search the data further.

Cortez also said when information is accessed, a reason code must be assigned and a case number. New and current system administrators undergo constant training in use of the system and the information, focusing on a “right to know, need to know” format.

“There is always a human on the other end verifying the information,” she said.

Elk Grove Police Department statistics show that since March 2021, Flock automatic license plate readers have provided alerts on 1,548 vehicles, with 56% of these (866), resulting in arrests.

“Absent this technology, that would have been 1,548 vehicles that would have been allowed to move throughout the city and potentially conduct criminal activity,” Cortez said.

The camera data has resulted in 5,293 total calls for service, leading to 700 arrests, 70 suspicious vehicles, 640 reckless vehicle incidents, 536 vehicle theft reports, 1,548 collisions/hit and run incidents and assisted in the search for 93 missing persons.

The department has signed Memorandums of Understanding with other agencies to share Flock data, but only in the state of California, Cortez said. The information recorded by Flock is automatically destroyed after 30 days.

Privacy rights individuals and organizations around the United States have expressed concerns with automatic license plate readers, claiming potential violations of individual rights. There are also concerns about data sharing, with an October 2025 report from the University of Washington indicating federal agencies like the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol had searched Flock databases of at least 18 cities in that state, often without local law enforcement’s knowledge.

“We do not share with ICE; that was one of the questions that I’ll just come right out and say it,” Chief Davis told the council after the conclusion of Cortez’s presentation.

“That is not something we have ever done at the city. We have no history of providing ICE any information or assisting with any arrests,” he added.

There are also concerns about the 30-day retention of automatic license plate reader data. In Washington, several individuals sued law enforcement agencies claiming the destruction of the data violated that state’s public records laws.

In early November 2025, Skagit County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Neidzwski agreed with one plaintiff, ruling automatic license plate reader footage is a public record and denying a request from the cities of Stanwood and Sedro-Woolley to exempt camera footage from the Public Records Act.