After months of receiving public input about the city’s use of License Plate Recognition System (LPR) cameras, the Red Bay City Council approved a policy for using the LPR system that limits who can access information from the cameras as well as what happens to data stored by the system.
The council approved its License Plate Recognition System Policy at its October 7th business meeting. The council did not approve the original LPR policy presented to it after receiving extensive community backlash when two Flock LPR cameras were installed earlier this year.
One of those cameras is on Golden Road, with the other placed on Highway 19. The council directed Red Bay Police Chief Janna Jackson to suspend any operation or use of the cameras until a policy establishing how data from the cameras will be used and how, or if, data will be shared with other entities.
The approved policy includes several safeguards that limit who may access the data stored by the system. After several well-publicized incidents of law enforcement officers illegally accessing data from the cameras for personal reasons, including two recent incidents in Alabama, council members had concerns about the audit function for the cameras, as well as what happens with data stored by them.
Councilman Brad Bolton expressed his concerns at two meetings the council held to receive input from the public about the cameras. Bolton had reservations about confidential information stored by the cameras being made available to entities outside of the Red Bay Police Department.
The original policy was revised several times leading to the council finally approving it October 7th after revisions that were based on community and council concerns.
“I was pleased with the final result and it reflects every issue raised by our citizens, as well as the city council. I think the public will be pleased their voices were heard and their concerns implemented in the revisions,” Bolton said.
The city’s policy restricts use of the LPR system to the police chief, criminal investigator and narcotics investigator.
LPR systems capture a contextual photo of the vehicle, an image of the license plate, the geographic coordinates of where the image was captured, and the date the data was captured.
In the Red Bay policy, access to that data is limited to the three individuals and it may be shared with another criminal justice agency only if that agency has a case number for an active criminal investigation. Any agency seeking access to information from Red Bay’s LPR systems must be approved by the mayor and council.
Any search performed on Red Bay’s LPR system data must include a reason and case number prior to access.
And any data retained while there is an active investigation or pending case related to that data shall be retained on a separate device and any LPR data not related to an audit or investigation must be deleted within seven days.
Additionally, no agreement related toany LPR vendor may be signed or entered into without prior approval by the Red Bay City Council.
“All we wanted to do was make sure we have a policy that meets all expectations, has the necessary do’s and dont’s with full transparency and I think this approved policy hits all those buttons,” Bolton said.
The public may review the policy in its entirety by visiting www.cityofredbay.org and scrolling down on the main page to the green box labeled LPR Systems.