Things to Know Before Your Neighborhood Installs an Automated License Plate Reader

Every week EFF receives emails from members of homeowner’s associations wondering if their Homeowner’s Association (HOA) or Neighborhood Association is making a smart choice by installing automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Local groups often turn to license plate readers thinking that they will protect their community from crime. But the truth is, these cameras—which record every license plate coming in and out of the neighborhood—may create more problems than they solve. 

The False Promise of ALPRs

Some members of a community think that, whether they’ve experienced crime in their neighborhood or not, a neighborhood needs increased surveillance in order to be safe. This is part of a larger nationwide trend that shows that people’s fear of crime is incredibly high and getting higher, despite the fact that crime rates in the United States are low by historical standards. 

People imagine that if a crime is committed, an association member can hand over to police the license plate numbers of everyone that drove past a camera around the time the crime is believed to have been committed. But this will lead to innocent people becoming suspects because they happened to drive through a specific neighborhood. For some communities, this might mean hundreds of cars end up under suspicion. 

Also, despite what ALPR vendors like Flock Safety and Vigilant Solutions claim, there is no real evidence that ALPRs reduce crime. ALPR vendors, like other surveillance salespeople, operate on the assumption that surveillance will reduce  crime by either making would-be criminals aware of the surveillance in hopes it will be a deterrent, or by using the technology to secure convictions of people that have allegedly committed crimes in the neighborhood. However, there is little empirical evidence that such surveillance reduces crime. 

Like all machines, ALPRs make mistakes

ALPRs do, however, present a host of other potential problems for people who live, work, or commute in a surveilled area. 

The Danger ALPRs Present To Your Neighborhood

ALPRs are billed as neighborhood watch tools that allow a community to record which cars enter and leave, and when. They essentially turn any neighborhood into a gated community by casting suspicion on everyone who comes and goes. And some of these ALPR systems (including Flock’s) can be programmed to allow all neighbors to have access to the records of vehicle comings and goings. But driving through a neighborhood should not lead to suspicion. There are thousands of reasons why a person might be passing through a community, but ALPRs allow anyone in the neighborhood to decide who belongs and who doesn’t. Whatever motivates that individual - racial biases, frustration with another neighbor, even disagreements among family members - could all be used in conjunction with ALPR records to implicate someone in a crime, or in any variety of other legal-but-uncomfortable situations. 

The fact that your car passes a certain stop sign at a particular time of day may not seem like invasive information. But you can actually tell a lot of personal information about a person by learning their daily routines—and when they deviate from those routines. If a person’s car stops leaving in the morning, a nosy neighbor at the neighborhood association could infer that they may have lost their job. If a married couple’s cars are never at the house at the same time, neighbors could infer relationship discord. These ALPR cameras also give law enforcement the ability to learn the comings and goings of every car, effectively making it impossible for drivers to protect their privacy. 

These dangers are only made worse by the broad dissemination of this sensitive information. It goes not just to neighbors, but also to Flock employees, and even your local police. It might also go to hundreds of other police departments around the country through Flock’s new and aptly-named TALON program, which links ALPRs around the country. 

ALPR Devices Lack Oversight

HOAs and Neighborhood Associations are rarely equipped or trained to make re