The Policing Project at NYU School of Law reviewed automated license plate reader laws in every state and Washington, D.C., and found that regulation has not kept pace with deployment. ALPR systems automatically photograph passing vehicles, extract plate numbers, and attach information such as time and location. Police can compare plates against hotlists in real time or search stored records later to reconstruct where a vehicle has appeared. 

The group evaluated state statutes against 7 safeguards: privacy protections, verification of automated matches, formal rules for data sharing, limits on monitoring protests, regular audits, public transparency, and consequences when agencies violate the rules. No jurisdiction satisfied all 7. Connecticut, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington received the highest scores, meeting 6.

The gaps are significant because ALPRs operate as both alert systems and large databases of vehicle movements. A camera can help officers locate a stolen car or a vehicle associated with a serious investigation, but every scan also adds another location record for drivers who are not suspected of a crime. 

The largest gap is simply the absence of statewide rules. 26 states, including New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Wisconsin, have no ALPR-specific legislation on the books, according to the scorecard. Washington, D.C., Florida, and Tennessee have statutes, but none of their provisions meet the 7 standards used in the assessment. 

Data sharing is one of the tougher problems because an agency can operate under strict local rules while sending or receiving records from jurisdictions with different policies. The model statute calls for written data-sharing agreements, audit logs recording transfers, and restrictions on continuous access to external databases. It also says agencies should stop sharing with partners that violate the governing rules.

The consequences are already visible. A lawsuit filed in New York in June challenges the Westchester County Police Department’s ALPR network, alleging officers can search 2 years of vehicle movements without a warrant or meaningful written limits. The Policing Project says the county gives users from at least 55 local, state, and federal agencies access to ALPR data. 

Cities, counties, and states need rules specifying how long records remain available, which investigations justify historical searches, who can query the system, how automated matches are confirmed, which agencies can receive the data, and how misuse is detected. Agencies also need audit trails and public reporting that make those rules enforceable. Until more states establish those standards in law, two agencies using the same technology can operate under substantially different privacy and accountability requirements.

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