Austin council member pulls item on automated license-plate-reader pilot, cites civil‑liberties concerns

Council Member Siegel pulled agenda item 103 from the addendum on March 25, saying the council should allow the current automated license plate reader (ALPR) pilot to finish and the results of a pending audit to be released before voting on making the program permanent. "I'm concerned with how our city's participation in, frankly, a mass surveillance program such as automated license plate readers could negatively impact our community," Siegel said, specifically naming immigrants and people seeking reproductive and gender‑affirming care as vulnerable groups.

Siegel told colleagues the item was added to the addendum late in the previous week and that the shortened timeline made it difficult to convene public discussion before a vote scheduled for Thursday. "My office made the decision to pull this item after it was added to the addendum late last week, which kind of gave us a short timeline to figure out what public discussion would be needed before our vote this coming Thursday," he said.

Assistant Chief Greenwald, who responded to technical and policy questions…