Asheville police brief council on automated license-plate readers, scope and safeguards

Deputy Chief Jackie Stepp briefed the City of Asheville council on March 6 about the police department’s use of automated license plate readers (LPRs), including mobile Axon Fleet cameras already in patrol vehicles, a recent contract to install 11 stationary Flock Safety cameras, and the data access and prohibited uses staff intend to enforce.

Stepp said the department has used mobile LPRs in its Axon Fleet 3 vehicles since April of the previous year and has contracted with Flock Safety for 11 stationary cameras placed at locations chosen for traffic volume and crime statistics. "These LPRs make police operations more data driven and we pride ourselves on being an agency that's very data statistics driven," Stepp said.

Staff reported concrete operational results: mobile and stationary systems have identified 11 stolen vehicles and assisted other agencies in investigations including a suspected vehicle-theft ring and a vehicle tied to an armed robbery investigation. Stepp also described public-facing dashboards for both the mobile (Axon) and stationary (Flock) systems and stressed what the cameras do and do not detect. She told council that the systems detect license-plate and vehicle images and plate text, and do not perform facial recognition or detect demographic traits.

Legal and policy safeguards City Attorney Brad Branham told council that law-enforcement recordings are generally not treated as public records and that producing such material typically requires a court order. "Law enforcement recordings are not public records. They are specifically, excluded from public records law... It actually takes an act of the court to have us producing that material," Branham said.

Deputy Chief Stepp outlined prohibited uses on both vendor dashboards and department policy: the systems are not to be used for immigration enforcement, to conduct traffic enforcement, for harassment or intimidation, or in any way that targets people based on protected class. Stepp said the fleet mobile system runs license-plate reads against law-enforcement databases in real time and can provide instant alerts, improving officer safety and investigative efficiency.

Council concerns and follow-up requests Several council members said they welcomed the transparency but raised concerns about changing federal or state contexts and whether another level of government might seek access to the data. Stepp and Branham said policy and vendor agreements govern access and that judicial process would be required to compel recordings. Council members also asked staff to make the vendor contracts and related materials available for review and expressed interest in committee-level discussion of surveillance and enforcement policies when council committees resume.

What’s next: staff said they will provide the requested vendor contracts, the dashboard links and further policy details as follow-up after the agenda briefing. No formal actions or votes were taken at the March 6 meeting.