As our population booms in Central TX,
communities grow,
some local law enforcement agencies
have had trouble keeping up while
they deal with staffing shortages.
Police tell me these license plate
readers are force multipliers
and help solve crime,
but some fear it just multiplies
the ways you can be tracked.
This year, many cities in Central TX,
all those in favor, say
aye aye, all in favor.
Motion passes 40 have voted to put
automatic license plate readers high
in the sky to cut down on crime.
These possible threats are
not to be taken lightly.
Privacy is a universal human right,
but it hasn't been without pushback.
In fact, we had concerns here
about sort of Big Brother watching
people as they come and go.
But you got to remember law enforcement.
We deal in information.
Lynn Carter is the police chief
in small town Sunset Valley.
We have between 7 and 800
residents here. After
an uptake in retail theft at
this local shopping center,
we found out about the flock cameras.
The department installed 10
LPR cameras at city entrances
and high traffic retail areas.
And just just to put this in
perspective, we have 13 officers.
Our city is just a mile
says installing the cameras in February.
We've recovered nearly 50 stolen cars.
Vehicles, he says, are often
involved in other crimes as well.
Most of the time they're from
the Austin area, San Antonio or.
Houston area. It's helped us to
solve crimes that we wouldn't have
been able to put the energy into,
like road rage incidents and assaults.
While several companies make LPR's,
most law enforcement in our area use
products from a company called Flock Safety.
According to flock safety,
as of mid November,
at least 12 agencies and cities in our
12 county viewing area are customers.
There's no requirement to inform the
public about the use of these cameras,
so some agencies have disclosed.
Usage themselves.
HOA's and businesses can use
the same private company,
so here's how it works.
Vehicles reported stolen and
valued in a missing persons case
are certain felony offenses can
all be added to a database shared
among agencies using flock.
Those cameras can be mounted
on law enforcement vehicles or
on top of a poll like this,
snapping a timestamped photo
of every vehicle passing by,
capturing details like model and color.
And even bumper stickers.
If it captures a wanted vehicle,
law enforcement gets pinned.
The image of the vehicle comes up in their
car, as well as the location of the car.
Police can also search the database,
but only for active investigations,
so it won't let me search it
without putting the reason.
And you know why I'm searching for
it. We watched as Carter looked up black
trucks that came through Sunset Valley
between 10:30 and 12:30
and all of these potential hits popped up.
And some photos.
You can clearly see the front
and back windows of the vehicles,
but flock safety says.
Their LPR's don't have facial recognition,
which is why it's not considered personally
identifiable information and flugger.
Ville police say since turning
on the cameras in August,
they have used the data to
make 20 arrests and recover 21
stolen vehicles in Round Rock.
Police say since installing
the cameras in April,
they have used the data in at
least 354 calls for service.
Also sharing flank data with police HOA's
right now at least 40 HOA's in the K
View area are using flock LPR cameras.
36 of them are in Travis County.
Garlic Creek HOA is like proactive.
We're not reactive, we're proactive.
We're trying to stay ahead of the game.
Jeffrey Morales is the president
of the Garlic Creek HOA in Buda.
We just got tired
of, like I said, the the
vandalism at our amenity center,
the trespassing and stuff.
So in July, the three member
HOA board voted to install.
Three cameras at neighborhood access points,
which he says has helped cut down on car
break ins and other possible threats.
The board does have access, but we don't
ever log in to use it for anything.
Morales says.
Their data is safe for 90 days.
And unlike law enforcement,
he says he can only see photos
of vehicles coming and going
from their neighborhood.
We just see the basic we don't
see what the law enforcement see.
People who live there can opt
out of having their data stored.
But to do so, you have to give the
company your license plate. Information.
You can learn a lot of very,
very sensitive stuff about people
when this stuff is all connected.
Kevin Welch is the president of EFF Austin,
a group pushing to protect digital privacy.
He feels LPR's violate the 4th amendment.
The issue is, there is no way to track
cars that are flagged as having committed
a crime with this technology without
tracking everyone, whether they've
been convicted of a crime or not.
Well, it's also worries about data breaches
and the fact that a private company.
Is storing this widely shared information.
And recently the ACLU released
the report calling for stricter
usage and data storage laws.
Texas law is the Wild West in terms
of this stuff, so you just don't
know where your movements are,
who has access to that? Who's sharing it?
Attorney Justin Roberts says the
technology is being implemented
faster than the law can keep up.
There are only a few isolated state law
provisions that prohibit their use,
and so municipalities can, basically.
Use them as they want to.
Except for things like red light
cameras and speed enforcement cameras,
groups concerned about privacy and
storage are calling for the readers
to be used by law enforcement only
to not store data of the innocent,
no sharing data among agencies,
a database to search who has their
information, and requiring entities
to report if they have the cameras.
There are definitely there are 16 other
states that have put in place pretty strict
restrictions on license plate readers.
Like in New Hampshire,
state law limits data storage.
With only three minutes,
a rural Welch wanted Austin City
Council to adopt when reinstating
the Austin Police Department's
cameras in September through
a one year pilot program.
If you have a a homicide, that occurs.
You're not going to be able to go
back in the 1st 3 minutes to figure
out what you need to figure out.
Jeff Greenwald is the assistant
police chief in Austin.
He says like most technology,
these cameras are not perfect and
sometimes miss read license plates.
That does happen and that's
why we have to visually confirm
it. And again, here's the human factor.
The officer has to make sure that
that plate matches that car.
That's one of many rules city
councils have implemented.
This kept getting debated
over several months.
The Austin. City Council approved spending
up to $114,000 to reinstate the cameras.
This passes eight to three a PD used the
cameras for Motorola from 2016 to 2020.
There were zero instances found where anybody
was using the system inappropriately.
This time around, they're
considering using flock.
We know that we've been a little bit
negatively impacted since it was taken away.
A PD has seen critical staffing
shortages in recent years, and leaders
say this technology can fill gaps.
LPR's. Are a force multiplier.
We're able to do more with less.
Austin's LPR program ended in 2020 as part
of the city's efforts to reimagine policing.
At the time, cadet classes were put
on hold to revamp training after an
audit found racial profiling and other
disparities within the department.
This year, Austin City Council laid down
stricter usage rules on the cameras.
Instead of LAPD holding data for a year,
they can store it for 30 days.
A PD will only share data upon request.
The cameras are subject to quarterly
audits by a chief security officer
and an external party,
and officers would get annual training on
usage. Somebody's looking at license
plates without a criminal Nexus.
That is a crime and it's against policy,
Greenwald says. The department will not
use the cameras for parking tickets,
warrant roundups or Class C misdemeanors.
And when it comes to immigration,
the data won't be used for civil cases.
We only release it for
criminal investigations. So.
If ice were to ask for LPR data,
if they have a criminal
investigation for any reason,
then we would help them out.
We think are real concerns is is,
you know, prosecution related
to reproductive healthcare,
prosecution related to immigration
status and ICE enforcement.
Round Rock and Pflugerville have
online transparency portals showing
things like who has access,
searches and hits, Roberts says.
This doesn't mean every
municipality will be as transparent.
So state laws are needed.
You can see how this becomes surveillance.
Society with facial readers,
biometric readers, things like that.
In 2019, bills for LPR regulations
came up but didn't make it far.
The next Texas legislative
session starts in January.
So. Hopefully, this will have enough wind
to carry us into the next session and
someone will file the bill to deal with
it. So while LPR cameras are widely
unregulated in the Lone Star State,
this year the Texas Department of Motor
Vehicles created a grant specifically
to fund LPR for law enforcement.
These 40 jurisdictions have
received $800,000 total.
We have more details on our website,
kview.com for the KU defenders.
I'm darnisha Heron.