COLUMBIA, S.C. (Dec. 18, 2024) – A bill filed in the South Carolina House would limit the use of automatic license plate reader systems (ALPRs) and the data they collect and share.
Rep. Todd Rutherford introduced House Bill 3155 (H3155). Under the proposed law, a government agency could only use an ALPR “for the comparison of captured license plate data with data held by the Department of Motor Vehicles, SLED, the Department of Public Safety, the National Crime Information Center, a database created by law enforcement for the purposes of an ongoing investigation,” for parking enforcement, for controlling access to secure areas, and for commercial vehicle enforcement.
The legislation would prohibit the sharing or use of ALPR data for any other purpose and limit its retention to 90 days. It specifically bars selling, trading, or exchanging captured plate data for any purpose.
A COG IN THE SURVEILLANCE STATE
ALPRs are high-speed cameras that can capture every license plate that passes. They can be installed in fixed locations, such as on utility poles and overpasses. ALPR systems can also be made mobile by attaching them to police vehicles.
These systems are capable of recording thousands of license plates every minute and storing the information in massive databases, along with date, time, and location information. Some ALPRs can even capture a photo of the driver of the vehicle.
And as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes, ALPRs have a dark side.
“Taken in the aggregate, ALPR data can paint an intimate portrait of a driver’s life and even chill First Amendment-protected activity. ALPR technology can be used to target drivers who visit sensitive places such as health centers, immigration clinics, gun shops, union halls, protests, or centers of religious worship.”
BILLIONS OF SCANS
Records obtained by the 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). In 2019 alone, 82 agencies in California collected more than 1 billion license plate scans using ALPRs. Yet according to EFF, 99.9 percent of this surveillance data was not actively related to an investigation when it was collected.
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 was suspected of being involved in criminal activity. On average, agencies share this data with a minimum of 160 and up to 800 other agencies.
PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Government agencies often deploy ALPR systems, but they are increasingly partnering with private vendors that install and maintain the systems providing access to data on a subscription basis.
Law enforcement agencies entering into these partnerships can not only access local data gathered in their jurisdictions, but they can also tap into information gathered across the country.
And we are talking about massive amounts of information. DRN data claims its database contains more than 6.5 billion scans and that it adds 120 million data points each month.
ALPR systems run by Flock Safety have also proliferated across the U.S. The company claims more than 3,000 law enforcement agencies covering over 5,000 communities in the U.S. have installed their systems. If there are Flock cameras in your town, every law enforcement agency in the country that subscribes can tap into the local data.
IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS
Limiting state and local use of ALPR systems and the storage of ALPR data at the state and local levels can also limit the growing federal surveillance state.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the DEA operates the National License Plate Reader Program (NLPRP). The system 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 over a decade, all without a warrant. There wasn’t even public notice of the policy until 2019.
As confirmed by the NLPRP itself, state and local law enforcement agencies partner with the DEA. State and local authorities operate most of these tracking systems, often 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.
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 result becomes more clear. No data equals no federal license plate tracking program.
The enactment of H3155 would put a dent in federal plans to continue location tracking via license plates. The less data that states make available to the federal government, the less ability it has to track people in South Carolina and elsewhere.
WHAT’S NEXT
H3155 was referred to the House Committee on Judiciary where it must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.
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