License-plate readers raised privacy concerns

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The FBI has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in license-plate reader technology, but it halted a purchase order at least temporarily after lawyers raised privacy concerns about the surveillance three years ago, according to emails and other documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The heavily redacted emails provide a limited view into some of the internal discussions over the past decade about the technology, which relies on a network of cameras to capture and store data from vehicle license plates. They also indicate that the FBI sought to develop a policy governing its use.

Law-enforcement officials view the plate scanners as valuable in tracking the location and movement of suspicious vehicles and as a tool for a broad range of criminal investigations, including kidnapping. But as the number of license tags recorded in police files has grown well into the millions, and as law-enforcement agencies around the country have adopted the technology, privacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union worry about its ability to pinpoint the locations of innocent motorists. The ACLU received the FBI records through a Freedom of Information Act request.

FBI spokesman Chris Allen said Thursday that the FBI continues to use license-plate readers, but “they may only be deployed in support of an investigation and only if there’s a reasonable belief that they will aid that investigation.”