AUSTIN, Texas (March 27, 2023) – A bill introduced in the Texas House would limit law enforcement use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and restrict data retention. The proposed law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.
Rep. Brian Harrison (R) introduced House Bill 3999 (HB3999) on March 8. The legislation would prohibit law enforcement agencies from using ALPRs without a warrant or court order. Images and any related data produced from an ALPR operated by a law enforcement agency could only be used “for the purpose of investigating a criminal offense that is a violent offense as defined in Article 17.50(a)(3), Code of Criminal Procedure.
The proposed law would require any data gathered by a law enforcement ALPR to be destroyed “promptly after collection” unless the data is related to an ongoing investigation of such an offense.
HB3999 would also prohibit a law enforcement agency from entering into an agreement with a person to provide images or any related data produced from an automatic license plate reader except for a purpose otherwise authorized by the law.
HB3999 would require law enforcement agencies using ALPRs to adopt a written policy and includes robust reporting requirements about their use.
The enactment of HB3999 would limit the retention and sharing of ALPR data, and help prevent it from entering into permanent federal databases.
IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), tracks the location of millions of vehicles through data provided by ALPRs operated on a state and local level. They’ve engaged in this for nearly a decade, all without a warrant, or even public notice of the policy.
State and local law enforcement agencies operate most of these tracking systems, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the whereabouts of millions of people – for the “crime” of driving – without having to operate a huge network itself.
ALPRs can scan, capture and record thousands of license plates every minute and store them in massive databases, along with date, time and location information.
Records obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) through open records requests encompassed information compiled by 200 law enforcement agencies that utilize ALPRs. The data revealed more than 2.5 billion license plate scans in just two years (2016 and 2017).
Perhaps more concerning, this gigantic sample of license plate scans reveals that 99.5 percent of this data was collected regardless of whether the vehicle or its owner were suspected of being involved in criminal activity. On average, agencies share this data with a minimum of 160 other agencies. In some cases, agencies share this data with as many as 800 other agencies.
Private companies contribute to the proliferation of ALPR databases. In late 2019, Rekor Systems announced that they had launched the Rekor Public Safety Network (RPSN) which gives law enforcement real-time access to license plates.
“Any state or local law enforcement agency participating in the RPSN will be able to access real-time data from any part of the network at no cost. The Company is initially launching the network by aggregating vehicle data from customers in over 30 states. With thousands of automatic license plate reading cameras currently in service that capture approximately 150 million plate reads per month, the network is expected to be live by the first quarter of 2020.”
Police generally configure ALPRs to store the photograph, the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of a vehicle’s license plate, which is bad enough. But according to records obtained by the ACLU via a Freedom of Information Act request, these systems also capture photographs of drivers and their passengers.
With the FBI rolling out a nationwide facial-recognition program in the fall of 2014, and the federal government building a giant biometric database with pictures provided by the states and corporate friends, the feds can potentially access stored photographs of drivers and passengers, along with detailed data revealing their location and activities. With this kind of information, government agents can easily find individuals without warrants or oversight, for any reason whatsoever.
Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from state and local law enforcement, laws banning or even restricting ALPR use are essential. As more states pass such laws, the end result becomes more clear. No data equals no federal license plate tracking program.
Passage of HB3999 would take another step toward putting a dent in federal plans to continue location tracking and expanding its facial recognition program. The less data that states make available to the federal government, the less ability it has to track people in Texas and elsewhere.
WHAT’S NEXT
HB3999 was referred to the House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee where it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.
- Signed as Law: Nebraska Repeals State Capital Gains Taxes on the Sale of Gold and Silver - April 26, 2024
- Signed as Law: Asset Forfeiture Reformed by Kansas, but Massive Federal Loophole Remains Mostly Open - April 25, 2024
- Alaska Senate Committee Passes Bill to Make Gold and Silver Legal Tender in the State - April 24, 2024