LEXINGTON, KY. (LEX NEWS) — Kentucky's new law regulating automated license plate readers is now in effect, but not everyone is satisfied with the protections it provides.
House Bill 58 went into effect Wednesday, July 15, setting new statewide rules on how law enforcement agencies can use and store data collected by automated license plate readers, commonly known as ALPRs, or Flock cameras. Lexington has used the cameras since 2022.
State Rep. John Hodgson of Jefferson County, who sponsored the bill, said the legislation was four years in the making.
"It's not just Flock. It's all of the breed of cameras that are called automated license plate readers," Hodgson said.
Hodgson said the guidelines were necessary to establish a clear set of rules on the use of the cameras and to protect the information of drivers.
"There was absolutely no regulation on their retention of that data, sharing the data, selling the data. They could sell it to literally anyone — private investigators, bill collectors, people of that nature. So with House Bill 58 going into law yesterday, you're only allowed to use a license plate reader," Hodgson said.
Under the new law, departments statewide can only store license plate reader data for 90 days, after which it must be destroyed — unless it is connected to a criminal investigation.
Hodgson said he is already looking ahead to additional privacy legislation.
"Every year I'm sure I'll have a new electronic privacy bill, and as soon as this bill became law, I became aware there's now some technology that can track all the electronic items in your pocket... We may have to tune the bill up, but I [will] definitely work on an additional bill for this next year to address the newer technology invasion of your privacy," Hodgson said.
For Lexington police, the cameras serve strictly as an investigative tool.
"Roadways are public. It's only taking a photo of a license plate. It's not getting information of the people in the car. It's simply taking a picture of the license plate," Lexington Police Department Sgt. Bige Towery said.
Towery said the cameras have contributed to a significant number of cases.
"Since the inception of the system, the ALPRs here in Lexington, we've had over 1,900 criminal charges based on that. We've had over 300 stolen vehicles that have been recovered with an equating $5.5 million with that," Towery said.
Noah Cornett with the Bluegrass Democratic Socialists of America chapter said the new regulations are too vague.
"Some of the things that they are saying that this legislation will do are quite vague. They talk about only being able to use it in the case of public safety with no real definition of what public safety is," Cornett said.
Cornett said his biggest concern is how the regulations will function when data is stored outside the state.
"I have lots of questions about how these regulations can be applied when most of this data is kept out of state and is usually intentionally being kept in places where this legislation does not exist," Cornett said.
Supporters of House Bill 58 say Kentuckians now have new privacy protections in place. Critics argue the rules don't go far enough and say the ultimate goal should be removing the cameras altogether.
