8/29/2025 2:47:01 PM
Sent:
From: Edward Criado <ECriado@ci.benicia.ca.us
To: GRP-PDSWORN, GRP-DISPATCHERS, GRP-
PDCOMMAND
Cc:
Bcc:
Importance: Normal
Subject: RE:ALPR FLOCK Search field update EVERYONE read
and reply to me that you read this.
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ALL,
We continue to have individuals entering the wrong information under REASON for their FLOCK inquiry or
search. Below are examples of unacceptable reasons I have found used in the last 28 days.
stolen plate flock hit
stolen plate search
10851 vehicle
stolen plate flock hit
374.3 illegal dumping veh
Looking for suspect vehicle
488 PC
All of these are connected to a case number or Cad number. These are legitimate searches; however, we must enter
a case number or cad number as the reason. I have removed the case number field because it seems too
confusing for some people. There now will only be the Reason field. You must only enter a Case number or Cad
number as a reason. You should not enter any words or explanation, only a case or cad number. If you don’t have
that, you don’t search. Supervisors, review this with your teams and ensure they understand the appropriate way to
use FLOCK. Please review my email below for a reminder into why we need to follow these procedures. FLOCK
technology has been a tremendous resource for our investigations, and I want us to use it. If we can’t follow policy
and we continue to make these mistakes, this technology can be taken from us. It is in the news and there are
groups looking at our public search logs daily for opportunities to claim we are not following policy and cannot be
trusted with this system. I don’t want to see that happen.
Reply to me that you have received this email.
Thank you,
Ted
Edward Criad
o
Deputy Police Chief
Police Department
O: 707-746-4259
ECriado@ci.benicia.ca.us
www.ci.benicia.ca.us/police
From: Edward Criado <ECriado@ci.benicia.ca.us>
Sent: Wednesday, July 2, 2025 4:10 PM
To: GRP-PDSWORN <GRP-PDSWORN@ci.benicia.ca.us>; GRP-DISPATCHERS <GRP-DISPATCHERS@ci.benicia.ca.us>; GRP-
PDCOMMAND <GRP-PDCOMMAND@ci.benicia.ca.us>
Subject: RE: Flock Audit - Supervisors review and discuss with teams and trainees
All,
I conducted the quarterly FLOCK audit for the second quarter of 2025 today. We are still making mistakes
under the reason for the inquiry or search. I want to remind everyone of the requirement and responsibility
to enter the inquiry data correctly and to remind supervisors of their responsibility to check the hotlist for
their team weekly. Supervisors and FTO’s, please remember to include the appropriate process for using
FLOCK in your training of new employees. The mistakes made are likely due to training of new employees
and reinforcing the policy.
When conducting a license plate search or any inquiry search, we are required to list a cad or case
number. Listing the reason as “the Plate number”, “Flock”, “Investigation”, “Invest”, “BOL”, “Warrant”,
“Agency Assist”, “10851” or the name of an officer who requested the inquiry are all not acceptable
reasons. It must be tied to something we can show was for a specific police investigation. These reasons
are posted publicly on the PD Flock transparency portal, and they are scrutinized by the public and we
receive complaints and notices each time you don’t document it correctly. We conduct quarterly audits of
these inquiries, and these are a public record. Please make sure you have a cad or case number to enter
as the reason for your search, this is very important. This means you will enter it in both the reason and
case number boxes. If needed, for example with an outside agency assist or maybe a bolo from another
agency or trak flier, create an incident number if one hasn’t been created and put the details for the reason
in the call so it can be read and understood. It is very important that we make sure we are using this
technology correctly and within policy.
Sergeants are responsible for supervising and managing their team’s respective hotlist. They should be
conducting weekly reviews of the agency hotlist folders as an additional oversight to ensure vehicles listed
by our agency are removed from the system appropriately.
Thank you everyone
Deputy Chief Edward Criado
Benicia Police Department
200 East L Street, Benicia
707-746-4259
www.ci.benicia.ca.us/police
Edward Criad
o
Deputy Police Chief
Police Department
O: 707-746-4259