West Lafayette’s city council passed a resolution Monday limiting the use of license plate recognition cameras in the city.
The limits include a requirement that images taken by cameras not be retained for longer than 30 days or shared with third parties other than law enforcement agencies assisting in an investigation, among other things.
The legislation comes as Councilmember David Sanders has repeatedly attempted to pass ordinances restricting the use of facial recognition technology. Earlier in the same evening, Sanders failed to pass a revised ordinance limiting the use of facial recognition technology.
The resolution was voted down with 6 nays, 1 abstention, and 2 yays.
Sanders said the resolution putting limits on license plate capture mirrors restrictions put in place by the Lafayette Police Department - which recently announced the placement of license plate cameras around the city.
“There was all sorts of restrictions placed by the Lafayette police on the use of this technology and I said those sound like the appropriate ones to me,” he said.
West Lafayette Police Chief Troy Harris - who has opposed any restrictions on the use of facial recognition - said he supported the resolution.
“If we were going to write our own policy it was similar to what was in this resolution,” he said.
Harris said he asked Councilmember Sanders to look into license plate capture technology.
“I appreciate the fact that he listened, he’s big on privacy, I’m big on privacy,” Harris said. “I asked him to take a look at it and he did. The resolution was a surprise to me we didn’t actually work on it together but at the end of the day I think it’ll serve the community well.”
The resolution passed on a 7-2 vote.
