By Michael Maharrey

Today, a Massachusetts committee passed a bill that would put strict limitations on the use of automated license plate reader systems (ALPRs) by the state. Passage into law would also place significant roadblocks in the way of a federal program using states to help track the location of millions of everyday people through pictures of their license plates.

The Joint Committee on Transportation created and approved Senate Bill 2299 (S2299) on Feb. 9. The new bill was based on S1909, introduced by a bipartisan coalition of 12 senators and representatives. The legislation limits the use of ALPRs by police to “legitimate law enforcement purposes.” The law defines these as “detection or investigation of a crime, traffic violation or parking violation; operation of AMBER alerts; or searches for missing or endangered persons.”

The bill would also put strict limitations on the retention and sharing of data gathered by license plate readers. Police would be required to submit any collected data to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security within 48 hours or destroy it. The proposed law would allow the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to retain ALPR data for 120 days. After that time it must be destroyed, S2299 would allow the executive office to retain information longer only with a warrant or preservation request.

The proposed law would limit access and sharing of stored data. Any data obtained or shared in violation of the law would be inadmissible in court.

Notwithstanding any general or special law or regulation to the contrary, ALPR data produced, obtained or maintained in knowing violation of this chapter shall not be admitted, offered or cited by any governmental entity for any purpose in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding.

Passage of S2299 would prevent the state from creating permanent databases using information collected by ALPRs, and would make it less likely that such data would end up in federal databases.

IMPACT ON FEDERAL PROGRAMS

The ACLU estimates that less than 0.2 percent of plate scans are linked to criminal activity or vehicle registration issues.

As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the federal government, via the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) tracks the location of millions of vehicles. They’ve engaged in this for over eight years, all without a warrant, or even public notice of the policy.

State and local law enforcement agencies operate most of these tracking systems, paid for by federal grant money. The DEA then taps into the local database to track the whereabouts of millions of people – for the simple act of driving – without having to operate a huge network itself.

Since a majority of federal license plate tracking data comes from state and local law enforcement, passage of this legislation would take a major step toward blocking that program from continuing in Massachusetts. The feds can’t access data that doesn’t exist.

“No data means no federal license plate tracking program,” Tenth Amendment Center founder and executive director Michael Boldin said.

Law enforcement generally configures ALPRs to store the photograph, the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of vehicles. But according to records obtained by the ACLU via a Freedom of Information Act request, the DEA also captures photographs of drivers and their passengers.