OVIEDO, Fla. – All seven cities in Seminole County have license plate readers, but as Oviedo – the latest city to use this technology — is installing these cameras, some cities in Washington state are turning them off.
The automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs, capture vehicle and license plate information through a network of cameras. They gather images and information that is then stored in a database and used by law enforcement agencies.
A recent ruling in Washington determined that the data ALPR’s collect, is considered a public record and can be released. Following that decision by the court, several agencies announced they would be turning the cameras off.
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The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office said earlier this month that six cameras within the county would be disabled. A statement shared online reads in part, “Although the Flock system has been beneficial in investigations for both Skamania County and surrounding agencies, this recent court decision is a threat to public safety, allowing access to anyone and extending far beyond the policy parameters set forth by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office for their own personnel.”
Our News 6 team looked into what Florida law says about the data collected by ALPR’s. State statute says that records containing images and data generated through the use of an automated license plate recognition system are confidential and exempt from release, including:
Images and data containing or providing personal identifying information obtained through the use of an automated license plate recognition system.
Personal identifying information of an individual in data generated or resulting from images obtained through the use of an automated license plate recognition system.
Drivers who our News 6 team spoke to in Oviedo Tuesday were split on having ALPR’s in their community.
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“I think that people need privacy, you know? Nowadays, we have no privacy anywhere,” said one woman. “They have access to everything.”
Another man said he is “all for it” and sees the benefit of cameras used as public safety tools.
“I mean, if you’re not doing anything wrong, there’s no big deal,” he told our News 6 crew. “There are people doing nefarious activities, and it allows them to identify them, and have corrective action done accordingly, right?”
Oviedo’s city council discussed the use of Flock Group Inc.’s cameras, and the data that is collected, and how it’s used, before a 3-2 vote in favor of installing them in the city in September.
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“There are, in my opinion, real Fourth Amendment privacy issues,” said Councilmember Alan Ott. “For some people, every time they leave their house, there’s going to now be a record of this in a government database every time they go to the grocery store or go anywhere else.”
Councilmember Keith Britton said it’s a safety issue.
“If you can avoid having a police officer go on a high-speed chase, and you can trace the criminal to where he’s going and just pick him up, it saves, you know, to me it saves a lot of risk involved in chasing him down,” said Britton.
Our News 6 team has showcased how ALPRs helped track down stolen cars, catch unsuspecting criminals, and rescue children in counties across Central Florida.
In 2019, Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood told News 6 license plate readers were more effective than almost any other technology in recent history.
Oviedo’s chief of police said the agency will be able to set the parameters on what the license plate readers will look for.
“For instance, a stolen car is a trigger,” said Chief Dale Coleman. “It has to be a criminal act.”
Oviedo’s lease with Flock Group Inc. includes the use of eight ALPR’s that are “strategically placed along the roadways in and around the city,” according to documents included in the council’s agenda from September. The agenda also notes that Flock was selected as the vendor of choice because of the company’s “dominant presence in the market, access to their nationwide database, and their good standing in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov).”
Seminole County commissioners gave their approval for the sheriff’s office to mount automated license plate readers (ALPRs) on county traffic system infrastructure in 2023 to be used for “public safety, crime prevention and investigative purposes.”
Documents included in the public agenda addressed privacy concerns at that time. Staff noted that the images captured of license plates would be used for “official law enforcement purposes” and there would be guidelines. The Domestic Security Division within the sheriff’s office would routinely run audits.
Also, the data that is collected automatically deletes after 30 days.
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