Overview
- Chicago police released a draft directive that would treat privately run networks as “external ALPR systems,” require officers to log a case number and reason for external searches, restrict who can access those systems, and cut city‑owned data retention from 365 days to 30 days.
- The Chicago Police Department has opened an internal audit into possible misuse of other agencies’ plate‑reader systems, immediately narrowed external‑system access to staff whose jobs require it, and proposed nontransferable logins, monthly audits and penalties for violations.
- Los Angeles cleared a three‑month pilot with Axon to mount plate readers on streetlights after the Police Commission imposed tighter sharing limits and LAPD proposed new rules that would clamp most data sharing and shorten searchable retention to 90 days.
- Connecticut’s new law limits out‑of‑state sharing without a warrant, bars use for immigration and reproductive‑health probes, sets a 21‑day retention floor for routine data, and creates new enforcement tools against contractors and agencies that break the rules.
- Civil‑liberties groups warn that AI analytics applied to ALPR data can turn ordinary travel into police alerts, a practice tied to documented officer abuses and dozens of prosecutions that have driven audits, contract pauses, and demands for stronger oversight nationwide.