A report released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa suggests the use of automatic license plate readers is expanding in the state. Rita Bettis Austen, the ACLU of Iowa’s legal director, says taxpayers have collectively spent significant amounts of money in recent years to buy the high-tech surveillance systems.
A team of student researchers led by University of Iowa law professor Megan Graham filed open records requests with 48 Iowa law enforcement agencies seeking information about their use of automated license plate readers. The team found, for example, that Cedar Rapids has signed a two-year, $500,000 contract with Flock Safety for 76 cameras.
Graham says the records her team has reviewed show law enforcement agencies vary widely in their policies on how license plate reader images — which include location and time stamps — may be used.
