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Board approves sole‑source contract for Clear license‑plate data amid public opposition
Summary
Baltimore’s Board of Estimates approved a sole‑source contract giving the Police Department access to Clear’s commercial license‑plate and proprietary data after public commenters raised privacy and civil‑liberties concerns; several members recorded abstentions before the vote.
The Baltimore City Board of Estimates voted March 4 to approve a sole‑source contract allowing the Baltimore Police Department to query Clear, a commercial data provider that aggregates license‑plate reader (LPR) reads and other proprietary information.
Colonel Herszog, introduced to the board as the BPD chief of detectives, told the board the department does not add data to Clear but queries it to obtain phone numbers, addresses, arrest records and LPR reads gathered by third parties on public roadways. “It provides us information . . . that we’re able to use to build leads, link analysis,” he said, describing the system as a “one‑stop shop” for investigative information.
The vote followed public testimony from residents and advocates who urged the board not to approve expanded access. Dwayne “Shorty” Davis and other speakers said the department had failed to earn community trust after recent deadly encounters and argued that retrospective LPR data would enable intrusive surveillance and could be used by immigration authorities. “I don’t think they should have this,” Kerianne Laurent said, describing concerns that the tool would reveal a person’s public movements “over the last 10 years.” Zu Doer warned the board that such systems could be used to “violate Baltimore City residents’ civil rights and liberties.”
Board members asked BPD how it would prevent unauthorized access. Herszog and the mayor said BPD does not upload records to Clear and that the data the department queries are collected by private entities and publicly available in that vendor’s system. The board did not receive new, binding privacy restrictions at the meeting; members asked staff to ensure appropriate safeguards are in contract terms and operational policies.
The item passed after motions and seconds on the floor. Several members, including the mayor and the council president, recorded abstentions before the item was approved. The clerk noted statements of opposition had also been filed with the board, and the meeting record shows multiple public commenters opposed the contract.
The board’s approval allows the department to proceed with the contract as presented to the board. The contract was described in the agenda as a sole‑source procurement for “commercial license plate data for the Baltimore Police Department.”
