Lexington to get cameras that read, track license plates. Here’s how they will be used
There will soon be additional video cameras on Lexington streets.
The city recently partnered with Flock Safety and the National Police Foundation for a one-year pilot study using 25 fixed cameras that automatically read license plates in areas experiencing high crime.
The cameras are expected to be installed sometime in April. It’s not clear where those cameras will be located.
Lexington Assistant Police Chief Eric Lowe told the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council during a Tuesday council work session the city will not have to pay for the cameras for a year. Typically, those 25 fixed cameras would cost approximately $70,000 a year.
The cameras are not “red light cameras” that can be used by law enforcement to track and ticket people for running red lights or for other traffic-related offenses. Rather, the images only will be used for investigative purposes, Lowe said.
Lowe said the cameras will take six or seven images of a vehicle. The license plate will automatically be checked if it is on various lists including Amber alerts for kidnapped children, stolen vehicles or vehicles associated with a violent offenses. If the reader finds a vehicle on that list, law enforcement will be notified.
Sometimes police also get information from witnesses about cars or trucks leaving a scene. Police can use the cameras to try to find that vehicle, he said.
Lowe said officers began receiving training in March.
The cameras work on solar power and are connected to cellular networks.
Data from the cameras will be stored for 30 days unless the images are used as part of an investigation or court case, Lowe said.
Flock Safety, the National Police Foundation and the city will partner on a one-year study to determine the effectiveness of the cameras. Lexington will share crime data with the group as part of that study, he said. Between 40 and 60 communities are participating in the study.
As part of participating in the study, the National Police Foundation will provide a report to Lexington showing:
- Effect of license plate readers on crime, arrests and clearances
- Guidance on more effective ways of deploying license plate readers
- Determine if it is an investment the city wants to continue.
Police can not use the cameras personal use, Lowe said. If an officer opens the database connected to the cameras, the officers has to say why they are accessing the data.
The department’s public integrity unit, or internal affairs, will conduct audits of the use of the system.
Two years of crime data was used to determine where the cameras will be placed, he said.
Location of cameras not released
Lowe said police are hesitant to release the identified locations for the cameras.
Councilman Chuck Ellinger Jr. asked during Tuesday’s council work session why police were reluctant to release the locations.
“They are visible,” Ellinger said. “People can see them.”
Lowe said police are worried about vandalism. They also don’t want people to know where the cameras are and what areas to avoid.
Councilwoman Jennifer Reynolds also said she has heard concerns that people will try to get access to the data to stalk anyone and any where.
Lowe said police don’t believe the information can be be made public for those reasons.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups have raised questions about where the cameras will be located. Crime statistics only show who gets caught, not the level of crime in an area, the ACLU and others have said. That means too many cameras will likely be placed in minority neighborhoods.
Councilman James Brown said he has heard similar concerns. Some neighborhoods have a lot of police calls but do not have violent crime, he said.
“We used actual violent crime that was reported to us,” Lowe said of the locations of the cameras.
Lowe said the police met with the ACLU, the Lexington NAACP and the Lexington Human Rights Commission about the camera policy. It met with those groups when police launched body-worn cameras in 2016.
Automatic license plate readers use growing
The use of automatic license plate readers, ALPRs, is growing across the country, according to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics. In cities with populations over 1 million people, 95% have some sort of automatic license plate reader system. In cities of 75,000 or more, 75% of police departments use automatic license plate readers.
According to its website, Flock Safety says it works with more than 840 police departments across the country.
Louisville is about to install the cameras in the next month, Lowe said. Other cities that use them in Kentucky include Owensboro and Madisonville.
Some Lexington neighborhoods have similar cameras.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 5:00 PM.
