Anchorage police consider using automated license plate readers

The Anchorage Police Department is considering the use of automated license plate readers, motion-activated cameras that officials say could help reduce crime amid ongoing staffing issues.

The automated license plate readers scan passing vehicles and collect the time and location of the images.

The readers are already in widespread use in the Lower 48, where city leaders and law enforcement agencies say the technology can help apprehend vehicle thieves or suspects in criminal cases. Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union say they can result in large amounts of information about all motorists retained for years with few limits to protect privacy rights.

Anchorage police Chief Michael Kerle announced that the department may explore the potential use of the cameras during a meeting last week of the Anchorage Assembly’s Public Safety Committee. Any implementation would be more than a year away, the chief said.

Kerle said the technology could help the department more easily locate stolen vehicles or identify cars used to traffic drugs or people by using license plate readers.

The license plate readers could reduce the amount of time officers spend on “tedious” tasks and therefore compensate for staffing issues the department is currently grappling with, he said.

Publicly funded cameras that track traffic or weather are already used in the Anchorage Bowl. The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities as well as the municipality operate cameras across the city. Police have used those cameras to track suspects or review potentially criminal incidents, as described in criminal charging documents.

The preliminary conversation about the concept of license plate readers comes as Anchorage police begin to implement body-worn cameras for 350 officers. The department will begin equipping officers with cameras next month and continue to do so until they are all deployed, police said.

Voters approved the body camera technology roughly 2 1/2 years ago with a $1.8 million annual tax increase. Reasons cited by police for the delayed rollout included privacy concerns from the municipal law department and a lengthy dispute with the union. In recent months, Kerle said the department needed to first fund the computer-aided dispatch and record-management systems before purchasing body cameras.

The department could deploy license plate readers in several ways, he said last week. A specialized stationary camera could be mounted or placed at locations across the city, or the department could subscribe to license plate reading services through Axon, the company providing body and in-car camera systems.

Through Axon, the service would cost about $200,000 more than what the department is already paying for body cameras, Kerle said.

Christopher Constant was one of several Assembly members at last week’s committee meeting to raise concerns about privacy and the use of the license reader technology as a form of mass surveillance.

Constant said the technology was reminiscent of red-light cameras the city used during the 1990s to ticket drivers. That technology was barred in 1997 by a ballot initiative after thousands of contested citations were thrown out amid concerns for privacy and accuracy. He said he hoped future discussions about license plate readers include information about data security and sharing and look at the potential impact on specific neighborhoods or demographics.

Kerle said the department is in the preliminary stages of looking into license plate readers and would research the topic further if there was enough interest from the Assembly.