A law banning fixed automatic license plate reader cameras in Old Town may be enacted later this year.
Old Town city councilors discussed the proposed law during their meeting Tuesday. Councilors did not vote on the law but asked Police Chief David White to come to the council’s next meeting with information about his department’s current policies for license plate readers.
Councilor Zachary Wyles drafted an ordinance that would prohibit mounted cameras that read passing license plates and require a public hearing to overturn the law as a proactive measure. Wyles’ draft says Old Town does not currently use fixed license plate readers and the police department has “no present intention” to use one.
Old Town’s discussion about policies and possibly banning the cameras comes as Bangor residents filed complaints with the city despite no cameras being used in the Queen City, and Brewer ending its use of such cameras after it found out the software for one of its cameras violated state law. Although a vote is multiple meetings away, the proposal would make Old Town the first Greater Bangor community to ban the cameras.
With no such cameras being used in the city, Wyles said he drafted the ordinance as a proactive opportunity for the city to set guidelines before a company comes to the city.
“I think that smooth waters, calm times is the most appropriate time to put forward proposed legislation because it’s much easier to talk about these things when we’re not dealing with a direct third-party contract on our hands because then it becomes more of an issue about a private company,” he said.
During Tuesday’s discussion, councilors cited misuse of the cameras to track cars or people without reason and worries about data privacy as reasons why they wanted to continue exploring a possible ban.
White, who had sent councilors an email before the meeting asking for regulation instead of an outright ban, said the discussion about a possible prohibition should be if the cameras would be useful to the Old Town Police Department, not if they will be misused.
“The question before us shouldn’t be whether the government should have unlimited access to surveillance. I don’t support that, and our department shouldn’t have it. The question is whether a properly regulated ALPR system used to photograph vehicles traveling on a public road and subject to Maine statutory restrictions is a legitimate law enforcement tool,” White said.
Policies for license plate readers have already been enacted by the state and the Old Town Police Department, White said. Those policies are used for the city’s mobile license plate readers already installed on police cars, he said.
Wyles’ proposal, or at least further discussion of it, had support from multiple councilors, including Michael May who said proactive regulation could create more public trust in the cameras if they were installed in the city.
The council decided to have the proposed ordinance reviewed by the city’s attorney before it deliberates over it any further. The proposal is expected to be discussed again at the council’s Sept. 21 meeting with additional information from White and the city’s legal counsel.