License plate readers all up and running

An update on the Austin Police Department’s reinstated Automated License Plate Reader program confirmed that all 40 cameras are installed and functioning. After a hiatus, the readers controversially returned after much public debate, and the new program went live at the end of March as a one-year pilot program. In July, then-Chief Joseph Chacon clarified that data from the cameras would be purged after seven days, unless downloaded for an investigation or as part of a missing or endangered persons situation. According to the Aug. 30 update, all officers using the reader system must undergo training on an annual basis.