Lexington names co-chairs for license-plate reader review

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton named attorney Allison Connelly and Greater Clark Foundation President and CEO Timothy Johnson as co-chairs of a planned independent review of the city’s automated license-plate reader program on Oct. 6.

The panel is to assess best practices and consider whether improvements, a different vendor or other action should be considered. Gorton said its focus would not be the Lexington Police Department. The city says Lexington has 125 readers.

Connelly is a professor emerita at the University of Kentucky College of Law and a former chair of the city Ethics Commission. Johnson previously led United Way of the Bluegrass. The mayor’s announcement said that since March 2022, the readers had assisted in locating 32 missing people, recovering more than $5.5 million in stolen vehicles, seizing 166 weapons and charging 821 people. Those are city-reported figures.

Residents opposed continued use of the readers at an Aug. 27 council meeting and raised privacy and potential-misuse concerns, WEKU reported. The appointments do not change the program or select a new vendor. The remaining panel members were expected to be appointed later in October; the city gave no specific appointment date or review deadline.