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The use of license plate readers in the confines of the City of Wyoming is continuing for at least another year. After hearing a glowing recommendation about the devices and their usefulness,  the city council last week voted to authorize Public Safety Director and Chief of Police Neil Bauer to renew the contract with the device provider Flock.

Wyoming was among the first municipalities to embrace the roadside automatic license plate readers in this area and despite social media stories alleging misuse, Chief Bauer says the reports disparaging these devices elsewhere have no bearing on the reality of the local department’s practices.

The Flock automated license plate readers are connected wirelessly to a database developed by law enforcement. The readers tally license plates from the rear of vehicles, they do not record faces or passengers,  and the system cross-references the numbers with the database. Bauer said Wyoming P.D. had 1,048 alerts on suspect plate numbers in the last 30 days; with outstanding warrants,  driving after suspension and revocation the most common  offenses law enforcement personnel are alerted to. But cases also involve missing persons, car theft, vehicles associated with crime scenes and a host of other reasons to highlight the plates.

“From day one” Wyoming ALPR access data has been “turned off” to immigration agencies, he added.  Basically the agencies that can look at plates moving about the city recorded on the Flock system are adjacent law enforcement personnel such as Anoka County, he said.

The city council heard a brief story about an employee at a local business who was being harassed and stalked,  and the license plate on the vehicle being used was the only evidence available to track the suspect.  The license plate reader database located the vehicle on city roads and the offender has been verified and dealt with.  

“The department was able to provide (the victim) a sense of safety,” he said of the outcome.  

Wyoming’s Flock contract policy also mandates plate numbers be verified when there’s an alert.  Before the officer even begins to respond the owner and registration details are double-checked.  Bauer said rare incidents where people are stopped mistakenly are probably the result of skipping one of the verification steps or going off of incomplete data. 

Chief Bauer acknowledged he has had emails and contacts from a few people who express their belief the readers attack their sense of privacy.  He has invited these citizens to meet with him one-on-one and understand how Wyoming operates its plate reader program and review the data policy.  Not one person has accepted the offer.

Bauer covered the ALPR policy restrictions and parameters, readily available on the city webpage as a  transparency portal,  and stated that “It won’t be because of our actions the (ALPR) contract would ever need to be terminated.”

Wyoming uses state aid to pay for the $1,000 per month costs of several devices.  The funds were part of the much-maligned legislative distribution of the “surplus” in 2023.  Wyoming received $353,146.  Agencies across the county as a whole received $2.8 million based on population.

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