Central Texas continues to grapple with use of license plate readers
The San Marcos City Council agenda item to use around $125,000 to purchase more of the technology was in front of council members in February. At that meeting, Council Member Amanda Rodriguez motioned to postpone the decision to June. The agenda item came up for a second time on Tuesday, when it was punted again to a scheduled meeting in June.
'The first batch of cameras were originally done in 2022,' said San Marcos Chief of Police Stan Standridge in February. 'License plate recognition technology is currently underway and has been underway for several years,' he added. 'We're just simply adding additional cameras.'
If council approves the new batch of cameras in June, San Marcos will have 33 operational cameras throughout its jurisdiction.
License plate reader cameras help find homicide suspect, HCSO says
'I believe what we have today is a very well-vetted policy that does contemplate your privacy concerns as well as external data sharing with other law enforcement agencies,' Standridge said at a March work session. 'License plate recognition was built with privacy in mind,' he continued. 'We are using these cameras in the context of criminal investigations,' Standridge said.
Concerns over privacy and data security are not isolated to San Marcos. Austin has consistently grappled with the use of the technology for the last several years.
'We believe it blatantly violates the Fourth Amendment's prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure,' Kevin Welch, president of the EFF Austin board, told KXAN's Grace Reader in 2022.
Austin's year-long license plate reader (LPR) pilot program began in March 2024. On March 27, Austin City Council voted 8-3 to extend the program for another 30 days. The city will decide later this year whether to permanently use the 40 fixed license plate readers.
'I do believe the landscape has changed dramatically since the last time LPRs were in front of this body,' said Council Member Mike Siegel, who represents District 7.
'This is based on the complete disregard for civil rights and the rule of law by other governmental entities,' said Siegel, who was one of the three dissenting votes. 'I'm concerned that continuing the LPR program will put our residents at risk.'
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