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Item # 4.

Work Session and Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:	12/11/2018
Department:	Police
Pillars:	Gold Standard in Public Safety
Milestones:	Improve communications and the use of technology

AGENDA CAPTION:

Present and Discuss Policy Guidelines Regarding the Town of Addison's Use of Data Obtained Through the License Plate Recognition System and Optical Cameras.

BACKGROUND:

Based on Council direction to explore technologies that assist Addison’s public safety efforts, the police department identified two key technologies; License Plate Recognition (LPR) and optical cameras to mitigate criminal activity and assist investigations when a crime does occur.

The Addison Police Department receives approximately 75-80% of its calls for service out of the business community. On a busy day, or night, our officers may not be able to spend the time within our residential areas that many of our citizens expect or desire. Not being able to meet that expectation may lead some residents to perceive a lack of safety within their neighborhoods. Envisioned to be a force multiplier for the police department, these technologies will assist officers in keeping the community safe. This will happen two ways. First, by alerting Addison Police when a criminal enters an area protected by the system. Second, providing valuable forensic evidence should a crime occur.

To build and maintain trust within the community we serve, it is essential the Town develop a set of guiding principles to protect and govern the use of the data derived from the LPR and optical camera systems. When researching other organizations use of these types of technologies, it is clear there are many strong opinions on both sides of the privacy debate. By gathering reasonable recommendations and guidelines from all sides, the Town can develop policies that balance personal privacy with effective law enforcement practices. For example, the six recommended policy principles below are derived from the American Civil Liberties Union’s recommendations surrounding the use of LPR technology. These principles will act as policy guidelines for the police department as they develop and implement their standard operating procedures. Transparency and accountability for these systems is incredibly important and at the forefront of all our decision-making processes.

Below are six recommended policy principles regarding the use of data collected by these technologies:

LPR systems should be used by the police department only for legitimate law enforcement purposes investigating hits and other circumstances in which law enforcement officers reasonably believe that the plate data are relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.
The Town should not store data about innocent people for any lengthy period. Unless plate data has been flagged, retention periods should be measured in days or weeks, not months and years.
Citizens should be able to find out if plate data of vehicles registered to them are contained in the data base used by the police department.
The Town will not share plate data with non-law enforcement, third-parties. The Town will also not share data with other law enforcement agencies that do not follow proper retention and access policies or do not have clear policies in place to ensure such practices are followed.
The police department will report our data usage publicly and on an annual basis.
The Town will not collect personally identifiable information.

RECOMMENDATION:

Staff requests direction from Council.

Attachments
Public Safety Data Management Policy
Presentation - Public Safety Data Management Policy