BY JAMES WERNICKE
Los Alamos
I want to recognize the Los Alamos Police Department for answering tough questions and acknowledging where its policies may need improvement at last week’s town hall on automated license plate readers (ALPR). Residents can view the recordings at https://www.losalamosnm.gov/
The central issue is that if LAPD believes automated license plate readers provide enough public-safety value to justify recording the movements of every vehicle that passes one of its cameras, then it should also accept oversight proportionate to that power.
ALPRs can help solve crimes, locate missing people, and provide useful investigative leads, but they also record all of us, mostly people who have done nothing wrong.
That implicates the values protected by the Fourth Amendment. A police officer seeing my car at an intersection once is not the same thing as a searchable database capable of looking backward through months of vehicle locations. Wherever courts ultimately draw the constitutional line, Los Alamos does not need to wait for a judge to tell us what responsible local policy should look like.
One of the most important concerns raised at the meeting was that safeguards should not depend on trusting the current chief, commanders, or officers. LAPD says it can audit all ALPR searches, but internal supervision is not independent oversight. Good policy should let citizens verify that government power is being used responsibly regardless of who holds that power.
County Council will discuss the ALPR program on September 8. Residents who care about this issue should attend the meeting, listen to the discussion, and make public comment.
LAPD should routinely publish aggregate information about how the system is used, including the number and purpose of searches, useful results, external requests, data exports, and any misuse identified through audits, reviewed by an independent auditor outside the County.
Changes to retention periods, data sharing, permissible uses, or camera deployment should be subject to public review and Council scrutiny. They should not be changed quietly through internal policy.
None of this would prevent officers from using ALPRs to find an abducted child, locate a stolen vehicle, or investigate a burglary. If recording the movements of thousands of innocent residents is justified because it may help solve serious crimes, then demonstrating that the system is being used responsibly should not be viewed as an unreasonable burden.
It should be part of the deal.