March 9, 2015 The Honorable John Boehner Speaker The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader United States House of Representatives The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader The Honorable Harry Reid Minority Leader United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Speaker Boehner, Leader Pelosi, Leader McConnell, and Leader Reid: We are deeply concerned about efforts to portray automated license plate recognition (ALPR) technology as a national real-time tracking capability for law enforcement. The fact is that this technology and the data it generates is not used to track people in real time. ALPR is used every day to generate investigative leads that help law enforcement solve murders, rapes, and serial property crimes, recover abducted children, detect drug and human trafficking rings, find stolen vehicles, apprehend violent criminal alien fugitives, and support terrorism investigations. There is a misconception of continuous government tracking of individuals using ALPR information. This has led to attempts to curtail law enforcement’s use of the technology without a proper and fair effort to truly understand the anonymous nature of the data, how it is used, and how it is protected. We are seeing harmful proposals – appropriations amendments and legislation – to restrict or completely ban law enforcement’s use of ALPR technology and data without any effort to truly understand the issue. Yet, any review would make clear that the value of this technology is beyond question, and that protections against mis-use of the data by law enforcement are already in place. That is one of the reasons why critics are hard-pressed to identify any actual instances of mis-use. If legislative efforts to curtail ALPR use are successful, federal, state, and local law enforcement’s ability to investigate crimes will be significantly impacted given the extensive use of the technology today. We call on Congress to foster a reasonable and transparent discussion about ALPR. We believe strong measures can be taken to ensure citizens’ privacy while enabling law enforcement investigators to take advantage of the technology. Strict data access controls, mandatory auditing of all use of ALPR systems, and regular reporting on the use of the technology and data prevent misuse of the capability while enabling law enforcement to make productive use of it. Adoption and enforcement of strong policies on the use of ALPR and other technologies by individual law enforcement agencies would also help. We strongly urge members of the House and Senate to understand and recognize the substantial daily benefits of this technology to protect the public and investigate dangerous criminals. We urge opposition to any bill or amendment that would restrict the use of ALPR without full consideration of the issue. Page !1 of !3 ALPR Letter - March 2015 Sincerely, ! J. Thomas Manger Chief of Police, Montgomery County Police Department President, Major Cities Chiefs Police Association ! Chief Richard Beary President, International Association of Chiefs of Police ! Mike Sena Director, Northern California Regional Intelligence Center President, National Fusion Center Association ! Ronald C. Sloan Director, Colorado Bureau of Investigation President, Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies Sheriff Donny Youngblood President, Major County Sheriffs’ Association ! Bob Bushman President, National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition Page !2 of !3 ALPR Letter - March 2015 Jonathan Thompson Executive Director, National Sheriffs’ Association William Johnson Executive Director, National Association of Police Organizations ! Mike Moore President, National District Attorneys Association Andrews Matthews Chairman, National Troopers Coalition Cc: House Judiciary Committee Senate Judiciary Committee House Committee on Homeland Security Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee House Appropriations Committee Senate Appropriations Committee House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Page !3 of !3 ALPR Letter - March 2015