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Hewitt officials outline how license-plate readers work, stress audits and limits
Summary
City staff described a cloud-connected license-plate reader system that captures rear vehicle images, provides real-time alerts tied to state and national hotlists, and retains non-flagged images for 30 days; councilors asked about privacy, verification and regional coverage.
Assistant Chief Chavez and city staff spent the Jan. 5 council workshop explaining how license-plate reader (LPR) cameras operate and how the department uses them.
Chavez told the council the LPR system is a cloud-connected camera network designed to capture images of vehicles and license plates and provide close-up plate images for verification. "It doesn't track the vehicle's speed and we don't use it," he said, adding officers run flagged plates through NCIC and state databases to check registrations, warrants or stolen-vehicle reports.
Chavez and other presenters said the system generates real-time alerts when a plate on a custom hot list is detected, and that alerts appear on officers' mobile data computers and in dispatch. They described the system as a force multiplier that can provide investigative leads in thefts, aggravated-assault or homicide cases and assist neighboring agencies; presenters cited examples in which LPR alerts led to stolen-vehicle recoveries and arrests.
Staff emphasized limits and safeguards. Chavez said plates are publicly visible and that the cameras capture rear images, not drivers' faces, and that the city owns the data. He stated that non-flagged images are automatically deleted after 30 days unless retained for an active criminal investigation, and described built-in auditing and documentation so supervisors can review searches and outcomes.
Council members pressed on common concerns: whether LPRs function like red-light or speed cameras (they do not), how alerts are verified before action, and whether the system integrates with regional networks. A city presenter described heat maps showing the system's reach and said Hewitt's network overlaps neighboring agencies, which has facilitated several cross-jurisdictional leads.
The presentation concluded with staff noting their intention to run quarterly audits of system use and to continue documenting each alert's outcome (for example, "unable to locate," "lead generated" or arrest). The council did not take action on the presentation; staff said they would answer future questions and receive complaints through normal channels.
