Austin council work session hears widespread opposition to renewing automated license-plate reader program

Dozens of residents, privacy advocates and technology experts urged the Austin City Council on June 3 to reject the proposed renewal of the city's automated license-plate reader (ALPR) program, saying the cameras and the contract with vendor Flock Safety could be used to track immigrants, people seeking reproductive care and protesters.

The concern dominated public comment at a City Hall work session where staff from the Austin Police Department detailed the pilot's results and audit recommendations and answered questions from council members. No formal vote was taken at the work session; the item remained scheduled for council consideration at a later meeting.

Why it matters: Speakers said ALPR data creates a long-lived surveillance record that can be aggregated and sold by private vendors and accessed by federal or out-of-jurisdiction law enforcement. City staff and APD leaders countered that the system has helped locate stolen vehicles and provided leads in violent-crime investigations, and that policy, technical and contractual safeguards limit sharing and retention.

Public comments

Marina Roberts, testifying for Workers Defense Action Fund, said Austin's interpretation of state law already makes ALPR data available to federal agencies and warned: "Immigrant Austinites are in danger and face escalating attacks regardless of their status." She urged council to block the contract renewal.

Rachel Shannon, a District 1 resident, spoke to the technology's permanence: "The only data that can never be leaked or misused is the data that was never captured in the first place," she said, urging a no vote.

Other speakers…