MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Another state lawmaker is planning legislation in next year’s legislation session focusing on security cameras.
Flock cameras and their automated license plate readers are the ones that have been getting the most attention in recent weeks. Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, said he intends to propose a measure on a legislative level to create ‘guardrails’ that would limit the capabilities of what ALPRs can do on a statewide level.
The proposal is being done in response to public concerns that have reached officials from both political parties, particularly regarding aspects of cameras that can track movements and gather information that could open up Fourth Amendment violations related to the right to privacy.
“Every West Virginian has certain constitutional rights, but at the same time, I also recognize the need for law enforcement to have tools they could use to solve crimes,” said Hansen. “So I’m focusing my efforts on drafting a bill to put strong guardrails in place on the use of these license plate readers.”
The conservative Freedom Caucus will also back legislation, according to state Senator Chris Rose, R-Monongalia.
Rose said their bill would prohibit warrantless, real-time surveillance technologies, including all automated license plate readers, facial recognition systems, drone surveillance, and other technologies capable of mass tracking.
“While we’re very pro-law enforcement and very much pro-law and order, and we want them to have the proper tools they need to keep communities safe, at the same time we also want to make sure the Fourth Amendment is protected and respected and not violated,” Rose told MetroNews recently.
Hansen said any legislation the proposes would include guardrails that would require any law enforcement agency to have a mandated policy limiting what the cameras can be used for and what information can be gathered. This would include limitations on the tracking of residents of an area where ALPRs are in use with a timeline requirement to dispose of data collected while tracking people with active warrants or searching for people during a Silver or Amber Alert.
“It’s going to make sure that they could only be used for very specific law enforcement purposes and cannot be used to track people’s movements,” said Hansen on WAJR’s Talk of the Town last week. “It’s going to require that any data that’s collected has to be permanently deleted within a really short period of time.”
Former Morgantown police chief and current law enforcement policy advisor Ed Preston said concerns related to ALPRs are more than valid, with examples of officers abusing the system being reported in various parts of the country. In one instance in South Carolina, it was reported that two county deputies used advanced ALPRs to track the movements of two people without legal authority over a domestic dispute.
“Technology is far exceeded what our existing public policy is,” Preston said last week on MetroNews “Talkline”. “And I guarantee you nobody sat down five years (ago) and thought about, ‘Hey, I wonder if a 25-man police department could have surveillance and they could see all 50,000 people that drive into their city in a different day to go to Walmart.'”
Hansen said he would have no issues finding a compromise with members of the West Virginia Legislature that are members of the Republican Party including the Freedom Caucus..
“Nothing’s going to pass this legislature without Republican support, and I understand that,” said Hansen. “This is absolutely an issue to reach across the aisle on and to see where we have common ground.”