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Residents press Reno council to cancel ALPR contracts and review Keystone data center permits
Summary
Dozens of residents urged Reno's City Council during public comment to terminate the city's contracts for automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and to agendize alleged permit deviations at the Centric Keystone data center, citing privacy, data‑sharing and public‑safety concerns.
Dozens of residents used the council's public comment period to press elected officials to end contracts for automatic license plate reader technology and to open the Centric Keystone data‑center permit to public review. Neighbors who live within a few hundred feet of the Keystone site asked the council to place a rescission of the permit on a forthcoming agenda and to explain why they say the project deviated from the original application.
The most sustained testimony came from nearby residents who said they had filed public records requests and compiled evidence they described as more than "10 deviations" from the project's original permit. "We request the proper amount of time to present these findings," Elizabeth Brie Casper said, asking the council to remove the project's permit until the complaints are reviewed. Krista George, who said she lives about 300 feet from the data center, told the council the neighborhood's health and homes are at risk and asked for an action item to rescind the permit.
Speakers also pressed council members on the city's use of ALPR cameras supplied by vendors including Flock Safety and other companies. Commenters from multiple advocacy organizations urged termination of existing contracts and a local ordinance to ban ALPR technology, arguing the systems create searchable databases of vehicle locations that can be misused. "Flock's data is not sovereign or safe and has been shown to have been shared across state lines with ICE," a speaker said, summarizing research cited by several witnesses. Others raised research showing misidentification rates, legal vulnerability and potential civil‑liberties harms.
Council members acknowledged the volume of public concern and several said staff will place a fuller review of the ALPR contracts and related policies on a future agenda. Vice Mayor Martinez and others encouraged residents to provide technical expertise and to join upcoming staff briefings. The mayor said she expected a robust review process will occur in the coming months; staff later told the council they expect to bring a formal agenda item on the technology and contract management within about three months.
What happens next: Council did not take immediate action to cancel contracts; several council members said staff will return with a timeline and options for public review that include legal, procurement and operational analyses.
