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Gila County approves Motorola license-plate reader system after supervisory privacy questions
Summary
The Board approved a $175,840 contract with Motorola for license-plate readers (25 fixed sites and mobile units) funded from state border-security funds; presenters described vendor-hosted data storage and audit controls, while supervisors pressed for oversight and FOIA handling.
Gila County supervisors on April 7 approved a sole-source contract with Motorola Solutions for license-plate recognition (LPR) hardware and five-year licensing, a purchase county staff said is funded through state border-security allocations.
Sheriff's office staff told the board the package — about $175,840 for cameras and five-year licensing — buys 25 fixed cameras along highways and LPR systems for four mobile units. The presenter said the county purchased the hardware but will access a vendor-hosted database for stored plate-history records. "We don't store the information ourselves," the presenter said, explaining that most record-storage and historic-lookup functions are provided by the vendor and that disclosures typically require a court order.
The presentation included a discussion of privacy and records access. Sheriff’s office staff acknowledged public concerns that LPR data can reveal patterns of movement and said any external request for the vendor's records would generally require legal process. The presenter described internal audit capability for officer queries and said misuse can be investigated: "Everything within these systems is tracked through the clicking," Menlove (County Manager) said, adding that misuse in other agencies has led to personnel actions.
Supervisor Humphrey asked how query access and oversight would be handled; staff said queries are logged and that audits can be performed if concerns are raised. The presenter also said the system can alert deputies to Silver or Amber Alerts and can assist drug-enforcement and stolen-vehicle investigations.
After discussion, the board voted to approve the contract. Staff said they will return with installation details, ADOT licensing and a deployment plan for the fixed and mobile units.
