The Public Safety Commission voted unanimously on Monday that City Council approve a pilot program reinstating the Austin Police Department’s license-plate reader program – with caveats.
Council is due to revisit a new contract for license-plate reader systems and related services with a third-party vendor at its Thursday meeting.
The Public Safety Commission heeded criminal justice reform advocates’ concerns about license-plate readers in its recommendations, urging City Council to ensure any future pilot program adheres to certain safeguards, including those outlined by the city’s Office of Police Oversight.
License-plate readers automatically take photos, comparing license plate numbers on the ground with license plates affiliated with certain outstanding arrest warrants for class A misdemeanors and felonies, according to the Council agenda backup.
Council canceled APD’s previous license-plate reader contract during the 2020-21 budget process, which cut the department’s budget by $31.5 million, as the Austin Monitor previously reported. The cuts stemmed from mass protests against police brutality and racial injustice during the summer of 2020.
After months of discussion, Council considered APD’s updated license-plate reader policy as well as jump-starting the contracting process for a new fleet of license-plate reader camera systems at a meeting last month. But members voted to postpone.
APD Assistant Chief Jeff Greenwalt told commissioners on Monday that the policy incorporated feedback from Council, OPO and community input sessions.
But commissioners said they wanted to see additional changes to ensure any future pilot adheres to Council’s September resolution, which included language limiting data retention to 30 days and usage to investigating or prosecuting criminal activity, as well as to OPO’s recommendations.
Commissioners obtained the recommendations from public safety reform advocates, who had requested them from the city. Specifically, OPO recommends APD further update its license-plate reader policy to ensure it:
Chris Harris, policy director of the Austin Justice Coalition, questioned the lack of transparency around OPO’s recommendations, which required a public information request to access.
“Why is the city manager and his staff hiding the memos from his own staff related to this program?” he said. “Why is the work of the Office of Police Oversight, vital to ensuring that civilian input is included in police policy, not being made transparent, not being revealed to the community?”
Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.
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Austin Police Department: the law enforcement entity for the City of Austin.
Public Safety Commission: The Public Safety Commission is a City Council advisory body charged with oversight of budgetary and policy matters concerning public safety These include matters related to the Austin Police Department, the Austin Fire Department, and the Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services Department."
