Gov. Dan McKee is keeping a statewide pause on new automated license plate reader installations in place while legislation is drafted, and has released a model policy and template data-sharing agreement for departments already using the technology.
The pause began in August, when McKee called for a statewide review over concerns about privacy, oversight and data sharing, as What’sUpNewp reported.
“Automated license plate readers can be a valuable tool for law enforcement, but we need to make sure they’re being used responsibly and that people’s privacy is protected,” McKee said in a statement.
The model policy was written by the Rhode Island State Police in consultation with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs Association, the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns and the Rhode Island Police Accreditation Commission, according to the administration.
What the policy covers
- Prohibited uses: immigration enforcement; investigations involving reproductive or gender-affirming health care; harassment or discrimination; and investigating conduct that is not a crime under Rhode Island law.
- Data retention: deletion within 30 days unless preserved for a valid law enforcement purpose.
- Transparency: a public portal listing operational cameras, retention practices, which agencies have access and system usage.
- Accountability: quarterly audits, user training and documentation of searches.
- Data sharing: restrictions on sharing with outside agencies and formal agreements governing access.
- Violations: administrative sanctions up to termination, civil liability and criminal prosecution.
The policy is voluntary. The administration is urging municipalities that use the technology to adopt it, but nothing requires them to do so unless the General Assembly acts.
Critics say they were excluded
In an Oct. 9 letter to Weaver, the ACLU of Rhode Island, the Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance, the state Office of the Public Defender and Planned Parenthood of Southern New England wrote that the working group made no effort to gather public feedback, saying “there does not appear to have been any attempt to seek out any meaningful incorporation of public input,” according to Rhode Island Current.
The groups asked for retention limits, restrictions on sharing with other agencies, a ban on using the cameras to monitor constitutionally protected activity or to assist federal immigration enforcement, and limits confining camera use to identifying stolen vehicles, locating missing or wanted people, and investigating violent felonies and domestic violence. They also sought public oversight.
ACLU executive director Steven Brown said as of last week the group had not heard back from State Police.
Col. Darnell S. Weaver, superintendent of the State Police and director of the Department of Public Safety, said the policy is meant to balance the technology’s usefulness against public trust. Providence Police Chief Col. Oscar L. Perez Jr. said “public safety and individual privacy are not mutually exclusive.”
The policy will be reviewed annually.
