The state Department of Law Enforcement has plans to install 75 automatic license plate reader cameras, known as ALPRs, on the Big Island as part of an initiative to deploy about 400 of the cameras statewide.

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The state Department of Law Enforcement has plans to install 75 automatic license plate reader cameras, known as ALPRs, on the Big Island as part of an initiative to deploy about 400 of the cameras statewide.

According to Mike Lambert, the DLE’s chief special investigator, the department hasn’t yet discussed locations for deploying the cameras, but the plan is to use Department of Transportation infrastructure to mount them.

“We intend to meet with Hawaii County Police Department to discuss that relationship as well as begin to have discussions with the community stakeholders,” Lambert said. “The DLE specifically intends to use the ALPR to assist with agricultural and equipment thefts, illegal hunting, and other crimes that impact the farming and ranching community.”

Lambert said the DLE uses cameras from three manufacturers, Genetec, Motorola and AXON.

“Areas in Hawaii County that are open to the technology will likely have Genetec,” Lambert said. He added that ALPR data, including license plate numbers, “will be kept for 90 days and is then automatically destroyed as guided by our policies.”

“If an investigator does not pull the data on a vehicle by the 90-day mark, all of the information will be lost,” Lambert said.

Storage of data gathered by ALPRs has been the cause of recent controversy, with Flock Safety — the most prominent manufacturer of license-plate readers — garnering the largest amount of negative publicity. With a reported 7,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide feeding more than 100,000 cameras into the company’s massive surveillance database, it has been the target of criticism over how the data is stored, with some officers — including one officer in East Texas who allegedly used the cameras to track his ex-girlfriend — accused of abusing their access to the cameras’ data.

Civil Beat recently reported the Honolulu Police Department has 10 fixed Motorola ALPR cameras and 60 mobile ALPR cameras, which can be deployed in patrol cars, and the department’s former interim chief, Rade Vanic, shared license plate data from Oahu drivers more than 2,000 times with the FBI under a memorandum of agreement — which since has been canceled by its new chief, David Lazar.

Hawaii Police Department Chief Reed Mahuna told the Tribune-Herald that HPD hasn’t deployed ALPRs — either fixed or mobile — but has a single-digit number of Motorola license plate reader cameras “that are in the box, still wrapped up.”

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“It was part of a proof-of-concept project that was supposed to move forward prior to me becoming chief, and I have not green-lit that project to move forward,” Mahuna said. “We are waiting at this point to see what type of legislation comes out of the state Legislature regarding the use of the cameras. And I would certainly have community meetings prior to implementation of this type of cameras.

“I had a community meeting in Kona, and there was some apprehension expressed by members of the community about Flock cameras. And I made the commitment then that if we were to move forward with any type of reader cameras, we would have community meetings where community members could share their feedback about their concerns.”

Mahuna said he thinks storage of ALPR data “is what the community is going to be the most concerned about.”

“I’m still in the learning stages, but I think, for myself, I would not be in favor of a camera that would just store everyone’s license plate numbers for extended periods of time. I think if it’s targeted — that is, if the cameras are looking for wanted vehicles and/or if the cameras are in an area where you have a lot of agricultural thefts, for example, and there’s a road that goes in and out of this area and it’s not traveled very much, it’s only traveled by people to access the area where these thefts occurred, I think that would be a reasonable, targeted, specific use of the cameras. But what we don’t want to do is … being in the position of mining data from our community members that has no law enforcement purpose.

“Like I said, I’m still in the learning stages, but I would be very cautious about how we use the data and what type of data we collect.”

Lambert said ALPR cameras have been in use since the late 1970s and have been utilized in high-level felony investigations with targets including gangs, terrorist cells and organized crime.

“Hawaii has had limited ALPR capability, particularly in Honolulu County, since 2012,” Lambert said.

“The reason why there has been such a quick expansion of the product is because within the last 5 to 10 years the technology has become very affordable. Prior to this affordability, typically only the federal government and private affluent businesses
and communities could afford it.

“The ALPR is not intended to be used for violations such as red light, speeding, expired registration or safety check,” he said. “The ALPR is an investigative tool meant to create leads for investigators. Those leads are extremely critical when no witnesses have come forward after a crime has been committed.”

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Email John Burnett at [email protected].