Committee recommends council approve DEA access to Coeur d'Alene police ALPR data via Motorola API

The General Services Public Works Committee on March 10 recommended that the City Council approve an agreement with Motorola to permit the Drug Enforcement Administration to access Coeur d'Alene Police Department automated license plate reader data via an application programming interface.

The change, Chief Lee White told the committee, would allow DEA access to ALPR data “for their purposes in conjunction with EPIC,” the El Paso Intelligence Center, while maintaining the city’s existing limitation against non‑law‑enforcement access.

The ALPR system, White said, has been used by the police department “for over a decade” to help solve crimes, including homicide. He told the committee the current agreement “doesn't allow our agency to share any data with any non law enforcement entities” and that the proposed modification would be narrowly limited to DEA use tied to EPIC.

Committee members asked questions about privacy and civil liberties. One attendee asked, “Does that include free speech?” during the discussion; the question was not answered with a change in the terms presented. White also told the committee that any change to the Motorola agreement would be brought before the committee and council for review.

Council discussion concluded with a motion “to recommend that council approve an agreement with Motorola for drug enforcement agency DEA application programming interface API access to automated license plate reader ALPR data.” A council member made the motion and another council member seconded it; the committee carried the recommendation by voice vote.

The recommendation will go to the full City Council for final approval. Committee members did not provide a recorded roll‑call tally at the committee meeting; the vote was recorded as a voice vote with the motion carrying.