Caldwell, Idaho · Automated license plate readers · 2026

9 problems with CPD's ALPR slide

This is the slide Caldwell Police showed City Council to make the case for its license plate cameras. It is the source of the "80 arrests" figure. Each colored mark below points to a problem.

CPD slide titled 112 Devices, 184 Outcomes, 80 Arrests, with nine numbered, color-coded annotations. The same nine notes are listed as text below.
Tap the image to open it full size.

The 9 problems, as text

  1. 1
    Which is it, 184 or 185?The headline says 184 outcomes. The card right below it says 185. The bars add up to 184.
  2. 2
    Vehicles and guns are not arrestsThey are listed under "Arrests," but the chart counts them as separate outcomes. The card says 6 guns "recovered"; the chart says "taken."
  3. 3
    Where are the 2 homicide cases?"2 homicide cases assisted" appears nowhere in the 184-outcome breakdown.
  4. 4
    112 devices, results from only 45The headline pairs 112 devices with the results, but every outcome comes from the 45 plate readers. The 40 video cameras and 27 gunshot detectors report nothing.
  5. 5
    Leads and open cases are not outcomes28 "leads generated" and 10 "in progress" make up 38 of the 184 (21%).
  6. 6
    What does "cleared by other means" mean?If these 17 cases were solved by something other than the cameras, they should not count as camera outcomes. The slide does not say.
  7. 7
    "To date" since when?No start date or time span. CPD made 3,081 arrests in 2024–25 alone (Idaho State Police), so 80 is roughly 2% of its arrests over this period.
  8. 8
    Graded by the department itselfCounted "by the department from its own cases," with no definition of what makes an arrest ALPR-related and no outside review.
  9. 9
    Co-branded by the vendorThe footer and logo belong to Axon Enterprise, the company whose 65-site ALPR contract is up for a vote.

What those 80 arrests cost: $6,610 per arrest.