Committees in 2 states passed bills that would put limitations on the storage and sharing of information collected by automated license plate readers (ALPRs) and place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal license plate tracking program too.
Yesterday, a Missouri Senate committee passed a bill that would put limitations on the storage and sharing of information collected by automated license plate readers and place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal license plate tracking program.
A similar bill passed an Oklahoma House subcommittee last week.
The federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency, tracks the location of millions of cars through pictures of license plates. They’ve been doing this without a warrant or public notice for over 8 years.
State and local law enforcement agencies operate most ALPRs, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the location of millions.
Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from local law enforcement, passage of these bills would take a major step toward blocking that program from continuing in Missouri and Oklahoma. The feds can’t access data that doesn’t exist.
