A bill that would regulate state and local governments’ use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) has passed a House subcommittee. Lawmakers say they want to balance law enforcement’s use of technology with individual privacy.
The bill (HF 2161) would require local authorities to pass ordinances authorizing ALPR use. It also restricts officers from being able to access data from the readers after 24 hours without a warrant and requires them to track their use in a records log.
Rep. David Young, R-Van Meter, who is sponsoring the bill, noted two main goals.
“We wanted to make sure law enforcement has the tools that they need to do their job to keep our communities and families safe, and at the same time, put some guardrails to protect our privacy in what we are seeing more and more as just a surveillance society,” Young said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa supports the bill and has raised concerns about where license plate reader data is stored and how it is used. Becca Eastwood, with the ACLU of Iowa, said Iowans should have more protections against their data being shared.
“Municipalities are licensing Iowans’ data to private, third-party vendors that are sharing it around the world,” Eastwood said. “What that means is that Iowans are losing control over their data in ways that are unnecessary to advancing private safety goals.”
Eastwood mentioned an article published by Wired revealing that one third-party vendor, Flock Safety — which has cameras in Iowa — had shared data with workers in the Philippines to train their AI recognition systems. A representative from Flock did not dispute the report but said the company does not share data around the world.