People v. Cosner CA4/3

FACTS

Around 11:00 p.m. on June 29, 2023, Sean V. parked and locked his parents’ car (the car) in a parking lot at California State University San Bernardino. The following morning, he returned to the parking lot but found the car missing; he saw broken glass on the ground where the right passenger window had been. He contacted police and made a report. On July 1, 2023, Redlands Police Officer James Ragan received a stolen vehicle notification from the police department’s Flock System. The Flock System is a system of cameras that have automated license plate readers. The Flock System notifies officers by e-mail when a stolen vehicle is detected by one of the cameras which takes a snapshot of the vehicle. Ragan received an alert a camera at a particular intersection had detected the car’s license plate. He received an image from the camera showing the car with the identified license plate; the vehicle appeared to have a single occupant wearing a white shirt. While driving in the area of the intersection, Ragan saw the car parked in a park about 400 feet from where the Flock System indicated the vehicle’s license plate had been detected. The front passenger window of the car was…