Foster Council votes to end ALPR contract after hours of public comment

The Foster Town Council voted Sept. 10 to terminate the town’s contract with the vendor that supplied automated license‑plate readers, following a vendor presentation and extensive public comment that raised privacy, procurement and oversight concerns.

State Representative Michael Chippendale, one of the meeting’s longest speakers, urged the council to reject ALPRs outright. “Do not allow the use of any ALPR technology in in our town. Period,” he told the council, arguing that state law is not yet adequate and warning of mission creep if the town deploys the system before statewide guardrails exist. Other residents, including a municipal records manager and civil‑liberties advocates, questioned the purchase and retention settings and called for greater transparency in the town’s procurement.

Vendor representatives and the police chief had told the council the system is designed for investigations, does not use facial recognition for ALPR images, and allows agencies to set retention and sharing policies. Britney Gorman, a municipal records manager, said state retention rules mean images and related records generally require longer preservation: “By state retention rules, 30 days is the absolute minimum that you can have to keep that stuff,” she said during public comment.

Council members debated the technical and policy points raised by both the vendor and residents. After the public‑comment period and further discussion, a council member moved to terminate the contract; the motion was seconded and the chair announced that the motion had passed. The transcript records the council chair saying, “Motion passed,” but does not include a roll‑call tally in the public record.

The council’s decision to end the contract does not, in itself, adopt new local legislation governing ALPRs. Several residents and the ACLU urged the town to await state action and to adopt clear local policies on retention, audit access and sharing. Council staff also noted procurement questions about how the original contract was entered in the budget and promised to provide additional documentation and follow‑up.

Next steps: council members said staff will follow up on contract‑termination logistics, provide records and clarify any outstanding procurement and retention obligations. The council also moved to continue broader discussions on surveillance policy and state legislation.