LEXINGTON, KY (LEX News) — Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton says she will appoint an independent panel to review the city's automated license plate reader technology amid ongoing public discussion about the system.
According to the mayor's office, the external panel will examine whether Lexington's use of license plate readers aligns with best practices and meets community needs. The review is expected to include experts in technology, civil rights and law. Gorton said she hopes to have the panel in place by the end of September.
"Over the past few months, I've listened to the public, and we've had numerous internal conversations about this technology," Gorton said in a news release. "However, I think it's important to take our due diligence to the next level by appointing an independent, unbiased panel."
The mayor emphasized that the review is focused on the technology itself and not the Lexington Police Department. She said no allegations of wrongdoing have been made against police and noted that Police Chief Lawrence Weathers supports the review process.
According to the city, the panel will consider whether improvements are needed to the current program, whether a different vendor should be considered, or whether other changes should be made.
City officials say there is significant public misunderstanding about what Lexington's license plate readers can and cannot do. The city says the devices capture a single image of a license plate, a basic vehicle description, and the date, time and GPS location where the image was recorded. Officials say the system does not record video, use facial recognition technology, or identify who is inside a vehicle. The city also says the readers cannot be used for traffic enforcement.
Lexington currently has 125 license plate readers installed in public locations throughout the city. The locations of those cameras are publicly available on the city's website, according to the mayor's office.
The mayor's office says license plate readers have assisted Lexington police investigations since March 2022, including helping locate 32 missing persons, recover more than $5.5 million in stolen vehicles, seize 166 weapons and charge 821 people with crimes.
"Because they have been effective at helping our police fight crime, license plate readers have considerable support among members of the public," Gorton said. "However, other citizens have raised good questions, which should be answered."
