Lake Forest Park weighs purchase of four portable traffic trailers while pausing license-plate reader adoption

The Lake Forest Park City Council heard a police proposal on Nov. 13 to replace its two-decade-old radar trailer with four ATS SpeedAlert 24 solar-powered portable trailers that can display drivers' speeds, collect traffic data and accept optional license-plate-reader (LPR) cameras.

Police Chief Keith Hardin said the units are lightweight, deployable by one person and intended to reduce speed in school zones and neighborhood streets while supporting enforcement planning and grant applications. “These are solar powered ultra pro portable trailers that can be deployed by 1 person,” Hardin said, adding the signs help show residents that the city is “monitoring speeds” and that they can produce measurable reductions in average speeds.

Why it matters: the trailers provide an immediate, mobile tool for traffic calming and data collection without permanent infrastructure; the optional LPR capability raises privacy and public-records questions that could affect staff workload and legal exposure.

Council members focused discussion on three practical points: cost and scale, data access and public-records obligations, and operational logistics. Hardin said four units were recommended to cover multiple directions during closures or detours and cited a rough project cost “like a $100,000.” He said the city could reduce the number if council prefers.

Questions about LPRs centered on who can access collected license-plate data and how long it is retained. Hardin emphasized that LPR images/time-stamps would be governed by strict policy, with no facial-recognition capability. “I’m not willing to adopt a system that creates significant public disclosure burdens or ... introduces privacy concerns for our community,” he said, explaining that Lake Forest Park would lock down access and only share data on a case-by-case basis for active investigations.

Colton Lazard, representing Flock, described system safeguards and a recent change to Flock’s national lookup tool. “Federal agencies are no longer a part of the national lookup or the state lookup tool,” Lazard said, noting agencies now require explicit, 1-to-1 sharing arrangements and advising cities to turn off auto-accept features.

Council members also asked about recurring costs and storage: staff said the annual subscription for the optional LPR service is about $5,000 and that secure storage could be provided in the police sally port or public-works facilities. Staff estimated data retention on existing collectors at roughly 30 days, while acknowledging specific retention settings and public-records processes would need to be clarified before adoption.

Next steps: Hardin said he will return to the council with a formal purchase request only after council direction and as legislative or policy clarifications emerge; for now the administration is treating the LPR/subscription as optional equipment rather than a purchase request.

Ending: The council did not vote on the purchase; the police department will follow up with cost breakdowns, storage plans and any legislative or policy developments relating to public records and data access.