By Rick Wright

Staff Writer

A bill that allows using automated license plate recognition systems under certain conditions won approval last week from the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee.

South Portland currently is the only police department in Maine that uses the technology. The system, installed in one cruiser, includes three cameras mounted atop the vehicle that can photograph license plates and compare them to plate numbers on an established “hot list” from local, state and national databases.

The system immediately alerts an officer if it finds a license plate matched to wanted persons, Amber alerts or stolen vehicles.

Sen. Larry Bliss (D-South Portland, Cape Elizabeth), who testified before the committee Feb. 5, said a study group will spend the next year creating parameters for use of the technology and developing rules for safety of data the system collects.

He also said South Portland’s use of the technology will be watched as a pilot program. Other municipalities will not be barred from purchasing similar technologies.

Data collected by the ALPR system must be purged after 21 days, according to the amendment.

Lt. Frank Clark of the South Portland Police Department alerted Bliss to a “significant problem in the final version of the bill,” Bliss said.

Bliss said the committee added some language that appeared to only require the technology be used if police have “reasonable and articulable. suspicion” about the vehicle. 

“This prohibits the use of the technology to search for victims of domestic abuse, Alzheimer’s patients…or other non-criminal circumstances,” Bliss wrote.

Clark said his department objects to the phrase “reasonable and articulable suspicion.” 

“It makes it ambiguous as to when we may and may not be able to enter information into the system,” Clark said. “The language is unclear. They’re really imposing a higher standard which is reducing the ability of this system to make us more effective and efficient.”

The primary purpose of the ALPR system is to increase public safety and officer safety, Clark said.

Bliss also said he will try to amend the bill when it reaches the floor of the Senate if the Transportation Committee does not change it. 

The committee did not make any changes to the bill as amended at its last meeting on Tuesday, March 2, according to Legislative Aide Michael Dunn. It was referred to the Reviser’s Office to make sure it’s in technical legal form. Once the bill comes back to the committee, it will be voted out to the Senate with an “ought to pass” recommendation by a 12-1 majority, Dunn said. The deadline for all bills to come out of committee is March 11.

The Maine Civil Liberties Union initially supported a total ban of license plate recognition systems in the state. In a press release, the MCLU signaled its acceptance of the compromise.

“We are encouraged to see clear limits placed on the use of this powerful technology and restrictions on how long data on law-abiding citizens may be kept. While this compromise does not go as far as the MCLU had originally hoped it would, the committee deserves praise for its careful consideration of the competing values,” said Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

Rick Wright can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237, or news@inthesentry.com.