Chief defends city's license-plate camera program, cites solved cases and vendor restrictions on federal access

The city's police chief told the council that the automated license-plate reader system has been an effective investigative tool and pushed back on privacy concerns raised by residents. "I've been doing this 23 years, and I can say this is the best tool that we have ever had in policing," the chief said, citing examples including a stolen truck from Ohio, robbery suspects and a missing elderly dementia patient who was located and reunited with family.

The chief explained that outside agencies must be granted access and must provide a case number or reason for queries; misuse of access can result in being removed from the system. He also said the ALPR system connects to national entries (NCIC) so hits tied to stolen vehicles or suspects will flag investigators. On the subject of federal access, the chief said "federal agencies do not have access to our flock" and that the vendor restricts participation to local or statewide agencies, not to ICE or Homeland Security. Council members suggested outreach to the press and to a victims/advocate to counter misinformation circulating online.

The chief said the department is also working on a voluntary camera-sharing program to allow residents to register private camera footage for investigatory use; staff acknowledged the program's intake form is not yet routing correctly into the department inbox and they are addressing those technical issues. He reiterated the department does not access private home-security systems directly and said most audited queries in recent reviews were related to stolen property investigations.