Politics
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A Maine lawmaker is preparing to push for legislation that would ban almost all of the controversial automatic license plate readers popping up around the state.
Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, said he submitted a bill title to ban both municipalities and police departments from using the readers with an exception for cameras used for toll collection. This the first step in the legislative process. Details may be added to the bill later, and it won’t be considered at least until the Legislature reconvenes in January.
Automatic license plate readers are proliferating in Maine and across the country. Some municipalities here are using cameras by the companies Flock and Verkada. The cameras are meant to alert police departments if a vehicle connected to an active investigation passes by. Footage is sometimes shared with police across the country, raising privacy concerns.
Boyer said local officials in his district covering have the “good taste” to have avoided using license plate readers so far, but he added that his constituents are likely to encounter them in neighboring Auburn. That city, which is the main service center near Boyer’s district, recently approved funding to install Flock cameras at intersections and in neighborhoods.
He said the proposal was inspired by reader malfunctions in other states. Some people have found themselves under investigation after camera errors. But Boyer, a libertarian-leaning lawmaker, also said he was “just trying to slow down the impending surveillance state.”
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It’s difficult to pinpoint how many automatic plate readers are running in Maine. DeFlock, an open-source network on which users report sightings of Flock and other cameras, lists 50 stretching from York to Bangor. The real number may be much higher. Earlier this year, Hancock County said it would install 13 Motorola license plate readers across six locations, but so far, none appear on DeFlock’s map.
Civil libertarians on both sides of the political aisle have voiced anxiety over the proliferation of AI-powered surveillance tools in Maine. The state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recently called Flock “a significant threat to our constitutional rights to privacy.” In April, the conservative Maine Wire also published an article critical of them.
When Hancock County began installing its cameras, some expressed fear they could be used for immigration enforcement despite policies that prevent data sharing with immigration officials. Similar concerns have come up in South Portland, where police recently stopped sharing footage with Flock’s national database accessible to departments across the country.
It’s not clear how the bill might affect other surveillance programs that are not specifically aimed at license plates. Bangor and surrounding towns recently faced significant backlash over their use of Placer AI, a program that uses phone data to monitor foot traffic. In some parts of the state, police are also using AI-powered cameras to generate police reports.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.