License plate reader questions coming back to Council again

While considering a new contract for license plate readers for the Austin Police Department last week, City Council could not reach agreement on how long the department should retain the information generated.

Council will consider the policy as part of this week’s agenda. It is set to vote on whether to authorize a contract for license plate camera systems and services with Insight Public Sector Inc. for up to five years. The total contract amount is up to $1,090,000, but this year’s budget allots just $114,000 for the program.

Council started talking about reinstating the program last year. There has been considerable public input on the technology since then. While police supporters generally favor use of the technology, civil liberties advocates frequently express concern about unintended consequences.

Austin Police Department has insisted that it will not share data with other agencies, including federal immigration authorities, unless the other agency can show a specific criminal case involving the plate being tracked.

Agencies typically hold on to such data for 30 days, although that number has gone down since the 2020 nationwide protests against police brutality.

Last week, Council members Ryan Alter, Chito Vela, José Velásquez and Vanessa Fuentes argued in favor of retaining the information for just seven days. Council Member Mackenzie Kelly proposed an amendment that would have extended the time to 15 days, a time frame that police leaders supported.

“I think that if we move to a seven-day retention policy and deploy this tool, we will be able to help our police officers do the job that we’re asking them to do,” Alter said. “And we will be able to collect data so that a year from now, we can come back and see just how is this working, where did we get it right, what needs tweaking.”

In response, Kelly cited a statistic from the police department’s Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt, who said earlier in the week that the nationwide standard for such data is 30 days.

“This is the previously agreed-upon length when we passed the resolution I authored in the fall of 2022,” Kelly said. “My clear concern is that by lowering the data retention date to seven days, that investigators won’t have the ability to access much-needed information after that time period to catch career criminals, repeat offenders, and to potentially save lives from being in harm’s way.”

Kelly’s amendment failed on a vote of 5-5, with Kelly, Mayor Kirk Watson, Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis and Council members Alison Alter and Leslie Pool voting in favor of it. Council members Ryan Alter, his co-sponsors and Council Member Zo Qadri opposed it. Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison did not attend that part of the meeting.

After failing to pass his resolution, Ryan Alter changed his vote to no. That, as the mayor explained, would allow him to bring the item back up for reconsideration.

“That’s my guess as to why he’s doing that. He hasn’t said,” Watson said.

“Very astute,” Alter responded.

Shortly thereafter, Alter moved for reconsideration of the item and postponement to June 8. Kelly registered the lone objection.

Photo by genvessel, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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