Should Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) images be shared with law enforcement without a warrant? That was the question for the Santa Barbara City Council this week.
On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara City Council made two changes to how data from license plate readers used at public parking lots is stored and accessed. The first amendment extended data retention at downtown parking lots from 72 hours to 30 days, matching the existing data retention at the airport and waterfront parking lots.
"That will help us with customers who, for example, use long-term parking down at the depot lot," said Sarah Clark, Public Works Downtown Manager.
Clark says the second change was for public safety and was requested by the police department. The previous policy required law enforcement to have a warrant before any license plate recognition could be given.
"The updated policy just requires them to have an active incident or case number," Clark said.
When dealing with urgent matters, Clark says this will help police get the information they need more quickly.
"For example, Amber Alerts, or if they are looking for a wanted suspect," she said.
Clark stressed that law enforcement doesn’t have continuous access. They still must submit an information request to Public Works to obtain information about a specific plate number.
How does this affect your privacy?
"We don’t keep any personal information about who was in a vehicle or who the vehicle is registered to, nothing like that," Clark said.
She says your information is never shared with third parties or any agencies outside of the city.
"The only information we store is the license plate number, entry and exit times, and we only disclose that in very rare circumstances related to public safety," Clark said.
But that still doesn’t make resident John Castello feel better about the new amendment.
"It feels a little weird that they can just access my license plate, which has information about me and my car, so I don’t like it," Castello said.
Several federal and state court opinions have determined that Automated License Plate Reader checks do not qualify as searches under the Fourth Amendment, the protection from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
