Bill > S4174

Introduced Session

This bill imposes certain requirements on the use of automated license plate readers by law enforcement agencies. Specifically, under the provisions of the bill, an employee of a law enforcement agency who uses or accesses automated license plate reader data without authorization is guilty of a disorderly persons offense. A disorderly persons offense is punishable by imprisonment of up to six months, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. In addition, the county prosecutor or the Attorney General or a designee is to conduct an annual audit of every law enforcement agency's use of automated license plate readers and automated license plate reader data to determine if they are being used only for official and legitimate law enforcement business. The bill also requires every law enforcement agency that utilizes an automated license plate reader to submit an annual report to the Attorney General, which is required to contain the following information: 1) the number of automated license plate readers being operated by the law enforcement agency; 2) the number of readings made by the law enforcement agency using automated license plate readers; 3) the number of readings being stored by the law enforcement agency; 4) the number of requests made to the law enforcement agency for automated license plate reader data, including the number of requests that resulted in the release of information; the number of out-of-State requests; the number of out-of-State requests that resulted in the release of information; the number of federal requests; and the number of federal requests that resulted in the release of information; 5) any data breaches or unauthorized uses of the automated license plate reader data; and 6) a listing of the audit of the law enforcement agency's use of automated license plate readers and data. This bill requires that license plate reader data be retained for a period of two years, after which time the data is to be purged from the law enforcement agency's data storage device or system. However, the bill allows a law enforcement agency to request authorization from the Director of the Division of Criminal Justice to purge data prior to the two-year retention period. The law enforcement agency is required to have good and sufficient cause for purging the data, which may include, but is not limited to, the need to reduce data storage costs. The bill further provides that any automated license plate reader data that is transferred to another agency is required to indicate the date on which the data was collected by the automated license plate reader so that the receiving agency may comply with the two-year retention and purging schedule established under the bill.

Committee Categories

Benjie Wimberly (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Law and Public Safety Committee (on 03/03/2025)

Official Document