ACLU warns Will County against expanding ALPR surveillance; IGA removed from agenda
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Summary
Steven Reagan of the ACLU of Illinois told the Will County Public Works & Transportation committee that automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) indiscriminately capture travel patterns and called for limits on retention and sharing. The committee removed the proposed intergovernmental agreement at the Illinois State Police's request.
Steven Reagan, a policy and advocacy strategist with the ACLU of Illinois, told the Will County Public Works & Transportation committee that automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, “indiscriminately surveil, capture, and record the travel patterns of everyone passing.” He said the devices record plate numbers, date, time, location and other distinguishing characteristics, and that some systems can capture images of occupants.
Reagan told the committee the Illinois State Police retention period for ALPR data is 90 days, compared with a 30‑day retention he said is common under some private vendor contracts. “Law enforcement should not retain ALPR data of people not suspected of a crime,” he said, adding that the scale of searches of stored ALPR data — including by federal and out‑of‑state agencies, according to an annual report he cited — raises privacy concerns.
Committee members asked questions about differences among vendors and retention policies. One member said the cameras were sold to the county as a tool to locate vehicles involved in serious crimes, and asked whether systems now collect bumper‑sticker information and other details beyond license plates. Ronaldson, the director of transportation, and staff confirmed the county is reviewing vendor practices as part of contract discussions but said that a full set of implementation policies and safeguards should accompany any deployment.
The chair told the committee the Illinois State Police had asked the county to remove the proposed intergovernmental agreement from the agenda. Member Revice moved to remove the item and Member Winfrey seconded; the committee voted to remove the IGA from the agenda, and the chair said the item is off the agenda for now.
What happens next: staff and the committee indicated the item could return for consideration if the Illinois State Police and vendors provide clearer policies on retention, warrants and data sharing. No vote to adopt the IGA occurred at the meeting.
Reported facts and limits: the committee was told by the ACLU speaker that the ISP retention period is 90 days and that some vendor contracts use 30‑day retention; those figures were presented as the speaker’s summary of state and vendor policies. The transcript does not record a new county policy or a formal county retention period being adopted at this meeting.