Salt Lake City drafts limits for police license-plate readers
Salt Lake City officials are drafting rules that would restrict how police use automatic license-plate readers, a surveillance technology that can record vehicle locations and help investigators identify cars connected to criminal cases.
The Salt Lake City Council is preparing the ordinance as it revisits a $224,000 federal grant for the technology. The council tabled approval of the grant in December after public concerns and said it planned to reconsider the matter in September.
The proposed rules have not been enacted. The council has scheduled a public hearing for Sept. 15, 2026, and a vote for Sept. 22, 2026.
What the draft would allow
Under the draft ordinance, Salt Lake City police could use license-plate readers only for defined public-safety purposes. Those purposes would include active criminal investigations, outstanding warrants, missing or endangered people and stolen vehicles.
The limits would create a local framework for deciding when officers can search information collected by the readers. The technology can reveal vehicle movements, making the rules relevant not only to police investigations but also to how much information about residents’ travel is available to government agencies.
The proposal would also prohibit facial recognition and bar the technology from being used to target people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
Audits and outside-agency access
The draft would require police to log queries made through the system. The department would also have to conduct quarterly audits and publish an annual compliance review.
Those requirements would give the council and the public regular opportunities to examine whether searches followed the ordinance. The draft would place the same rules on outside agencies that seek access to Salt Lake City data.
An outside agency would need an agreement with Salt Lake City before receiving access and would have to follow the city’s ordinance. That provision is central to the broader debate because the data could potentially be sought by agencies beyond the city’s police department.
Privacy questions remain
The proposal is being debated amid concerns about privacy and data sharing, including possible access by federal immigration authorities. The debate is therefore about more than whether Salt Lake City police receive new equipment. It also concerns who may use information gathered locally and what limits would follow that information if it were shared.
The council’s December decision to table the grant came after public concerns about the technology. The September hearings will give residents another opportunity to address the proposed restrictions before the scheduled vote.
The final disposition of the $224,000 federal grant has not been announced, and the ordinance remains a draft. The council’s Sept. 15 hearing and Sept. 22 vote are the next scheduled steps in determining both the rules for license-plate-reader use and whether the city moves forward with the grant.
Sources
- Salt Lake City Council weighs limits on license plate readers, Axios Salt Lake City
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