Connecticut Had No Limits on License Plate Cameras. Now Cops Need a Reason and Outsiders Need a Warrant.

The win: A Connecticut law that took effect at the start of October puts the state's first legal limits on automated license plate readers (ALPRs). Before this, police could search the plate data with no statutory rules at all. And towns aren't waiting on the state: South Windsor's council just cancelled its Flock contract, making it at least the sixth Connecticut community to end or suspend plate cameras this year, after Windsor, Killingworth, Ledyard, Milford, and Newtown.

What changed:

• Warrants for outsiders. Plate data can only be shared within Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. An agency anywhere else needs a judicial warrant.
• Cops have to give a reason. Searches are limited to stolen cars, missing people, outstanding warrants, or a specific active investigation with reasonable suspicion. Each search has to log the reason and a case number.
• Data expires. Records get deleted after 21 days unless they're tied to an investigation or a warrant. Flock's old default was 30.
• Consequences for snooping. An officer who knowingly misuses the data with malicious intent can be suspended or lose their police certification. The data also can't be used to target activity protected by the First Amendment.

The bigger picture: Reason's Jacob Sullum says it's weaker than reformers wanted. The Institute for Justice model bill would require a probable-cause warrant for most searches, and the state's own police training council recommends 7-day retention. Still, a state with more than 1,500 of these cameras went from no rules to real ones in one session, and towns keep dropping the cameras on their own. Each new law moves the starting point for the next one.

Source: Reason