Minot Council approves ALPR use with 10-day retention, new oversight and limits on searches

Minot’s City Council voted to authorize the city police department to implement an automated license-plate reader (ALPR) system in patrol vehicles, approving a policy that balances operational use with new guardrails on data retention and oversight.

The 4–3 vote to activate the Axon ALPR system followed hours of public testimony and council debate about the privacy implications of collecting citizens’ vehicle-location data. “This sets us on a path towards a surveillance state that I don’t think any of us want,” Alderman Bless said during the debate, urging caution. Opponents warned of long-term risks of storing vehicle location data in searchable databases. Supporters, including Police Chief Fry, said the tool improves officer safety and helps solve violent-crime and missing-person cases.

The council adopted several amendments to the city’s recommended policy before final approval. Key changes include:

- Data retention capped at 10 days, down from the originally proposed 30 days. Councilmembers described 10 days as a compromise that still enables meaningful investigations while limiting historical tracking.

- Restriction on who may query stored ALPR data: only police captains and above and the investigations lieutenant may request searches, and searches must be pre-approved by the police chief or deputy chief. The city attorney explained legal constraints around warrants and open‑records law but confirmed the council can set administrative policy on internal access.

- Creation of a five-member civilian oversight body, to meet monthly, review ALPR search actions and recommend policy changes to the council. The body will include a council chair and community members, with non‑voting city staff advisors for the police chief, city manager, city attorney and HR director.

Councilmembers also rejected a motion to disable all ALPR data collection and storage. That measure failed 3–4, after police and a vendor representative said short-term storage is required to validate hits and support investigations. A subsequent amendment to limit retention to 10 days passed 4–3.

Police officials emphasized operational safeguards: live “hot-list” alerts that flag wanted vehicles in real time; human verification requirements for any hit; and audits and supervision of retrospective searches. “When we see a hit, a human still has to verify that it’s the right plate,” Chief Fry told the council.

Civil-liberties concerns dominated public comment and several council speeches. Speakers cited false hits, the potential for mission creep (expanding use beyond serious crime), aggregation of mobility data and the risk that data shared with other agencies could undermine the city’s retention limits. “We’re creating a database that will show exactly that kind of information,” Alderman Bless said when urging strict limits.

Council action on several followups: members directed staff to draft language clarifying FOIA/open‑records implications and data‑sharing policies so the city can limit blanket sharing that would effectively extend retention elsewhere; staff also will prepare the oversight-board charter and implementation steps.

The policy takes effect immediately; the police department will configure the Axon system to meet the new 10‑day retention setting and to implement the access controls approved by the council. The council’s final recorded roll call on the motion was 4–3 to approve ALPR activation, with dissenting votes from Aldermen Bless, Fuller and Samuelson.

What’s next: staff will return with draft oversight‑board procedures and the city attorney’s memo on public‑records and interagency‑sharing limits. The council also directed police leadership to document operational procedures, audit routines and training materials that implement the new access restrictions.

Why it matters: proponents say ALPRs help quickly locate vehicles tied to violent crime, stolen cars and missing-person cases; critics say any searchable archive of citizens’ movement patterns is a long‑term civil‑liberties risk. The council’s action reflects an attempt to permit targeted uses while limiting the system’s ability to create an open-ended vehicle-location database.