Regulate ALPRs

TL;DR: The Deschutes County Commission and Bend City Council are considering expanding the use of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in our County. Both have meetings on Wednesday, June 3, that you can attend and voice your opposition.

Email the Deschutes County Commissioners here. Email the Bend City Council here.

For more information, including what you could say at these meetings, check out this write-up by Bend Privacy Alliance.

Stop mass surveillance

In January, the Bend City Council cancelled its contract with Flock Safety and turned off the four fixed-location ALPRs in Bend after public pressure. This was a huge win for privacy advocates and all of us who are opposed to mass surveillance in Deschutes County, as well as a demonstration of the power that we have collectively to push our electeds to make the right decisions. 

Now, the city is considering re-installing fixed-location ALPR cameras through a new vendor, Axon. According to The Source the proposal could be an add-on to Bend's existing Axon contract; 70+ Bend Police Department (BPD) cruisers already use Axon Fleet 3 camera systems with ALPR capabilities since July 2023. Meanwhile, the Deschutes County Commissioners are considering a five-year, $2.5 million dollar, contract with the same vendor that may include ALPRs for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office (DCSO). 

These are being considered while the County has no public-facing ALPR policies or ordinances that comply with state regulations and protect the civil rights of the citizens of Deschutes County. 

Axon's revenue model is Software as a Service (SaaS); vendor-controlled cloud platforms and subscription-based licensing. It's remotely updated, modular, and capable of expanding over time through analytics, integrations, optional features, AI-enabled tools, or broader data-sharing pathways. So, BPD is outsourcing evidence data extraction, storage and management to a private for profit company and has been for some time.

What is newly concerning is the sheer scale at which AI augmented cameras are capturing, storing and cataloging private citizen's data. Police departments are not equipped to mitigate risks like ROP's lawsuit alleging OSP's neglect allowing for data collusion with federal institutions, or other states seeking to punish those abiding by Oregon law.

In their own 2025 SEC filing Axon states, "we process sensitive law enforcement and evidentiary information, increasing the potential impact of unauthorized access, disclosure, or misuse" and that their system "require[s], significant resources and may expose us to regulatory enforcement, litigation, and other liability". 

BPD's proposed policy states that their Support Services Division Commander will be responsible for collection and retention, as well as self audits quarterly. Who is in this role? It doesn't seem to be public facing and would require a high level of technical skill and transparency to perform effectively. The policy makes no mention of Oregon SB 1516 or its requirement to ensure end-to-end encryption of the data it is collecting on citizens. BPD told The Source that it will publish its updated ALPR policy in the last week of May to shore it up with SB 1516, but the updated policy has yet to be released.

Speaking of BPD's policy, other concerning passages include:

 "Reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before using or accessing ALPR data."

 "Flagging a license plate may be entered into the ALPR system under any other circumstances where the Watch Commander authorizes the alert based on reasonable circumstances that justify the entry." 

"An alert may be entered flagging another agency's vehicle of interest only after a Bend Police Department supervisor has verified the outside agency's probable cause that a crime occurred and the associated vehicle is related to the crime or known suspect" (meaning an outside agency does not have to have a warrant).

"All ALPR data downloaded to the server should be stored for the minimum period established by State of Oregon records retention laws, and thereafter may be purged unless it has become, or it is reasonable to believe it will become, evidence in a criminal or civil action, or is subject to a lawful action to produce records. In such circumstances, the applicable data is secured in evidence.com and held under the applicable retention periods" (evidence.com is an Axon product).

Central Oregon DSA’s stance is that local governance should be crafting the legalities by which the police department must act, not the police department itself. No vote should be taken on acquiring more surveillance tech until the following happen:

1) BPD's policy reflects the SB 1516 requirements.

2) Specific and actionable safeguards are built into city ordinance and vendor contracts.

3) Sunset clauses in contracts at which time a public hearing and city council approval will be required to renew.

The safeguards against invasive policing should be strict; no warrantless searches, written submission to a public body for access to the data, making inadmissible "the wire"-esque data retention to build cases against individuals of interest, publicly available audits with input from a civilian task force as well as BPD's internal auditor.

Safeguards should answer; what an audit will entail and how it will be published, whether future features can be activated without a new public process, how long plate data is retained (flagged and unflagged), whether vendor staff can access the system and for what specific purposes and, of course, the dollar costs to the tax payer to monitor the surveilling of themselves.

What you can do

Attend the Deschutes County Commissioner meeting on Wednesday, June 3 at 9:00 AM.

Where: 

Barnes Sawyer Rooms, Deschutes Services Building, 1300 NW Wall Street, Bend

Watch (no participation): 

YouTube livestream

Attend by Zoom (with ability to comment):

Computer:

bit.ly/4bXfL6g

Phone: 

253-215-8782, Webinar ID 160 497 4576

Raise hand via the icon (browser) or press *9 (phone). Press *6 to unmute when called on. 

Written comment:

Email citizeninput@deschutes.org by noon Tuesday, June 2 for inclusion in the meeting record. 

Voicemail: 

541-385-1734

Time limit:

3 minutes per speaker

Attend the Bend City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 3 at 6:00 PM.

Where:

City of Bend Council Chambers, 710 NW Wall Street, Bend

Watch and attend virtually:

Livestream and virtual participation information posted with the agenda one week before the meeting at bendoregon.gov - City Council Meetings, Agendas, and Videos. Meetings are also broadcast on COTV Channel 11.

Public comment in-meeting:

The Visitor's Section at the start of each regular business meeting is the time community members can address Council on any topic. You must arrive a few minutes before 6:00 PM and fill out a comment card to be called on. Council does not respond or answer questions during this section. If you are part of a group on the same subject, Council asks that one designated spokesperson speak.

Written comment:

Email council@bendoregon.gov. Emails to this address are received by all Councilors and some staff. Send before the meeting for inclusion in the record.

Time limit:
2 minutes per speaker

In Solidarity,

Central Oregon DSA