Junction City police, with license-plate readers already in cars, consider next steps

License-plate reader cameras already sit inside police vehicles in Junction City.

Since their installation this summer, the cameras — sold by technology company Axon — have taken snapshot images to record the plates of all cars appearing in front of the town’s 11 police vehicles. More than 183,000 license plate images have been captured, according to the system’s data portal.

It’s a mobile version of the pole-mounted cameras installed by Atlanta-based Flock Safety at street intersections in Eugene and Springfield.

But while Lane County’s two largest cities have paused use of the cameras after outcry from citizens, it’s perhaps only the beginning for license-plate readers in Junction City — and for Axon, an industry giant when it comes to providing Tasers, police body-worn cameras and other technology to law enforcement agencies.

In late October, elected officials in Junction City heard two Axon representatives make a pitch to sell pole-mounted cameras with live video capabilities.

The Axon account executives, and, some six weeks earlier, a Flock Safety representative, gave online presentations at the invitation of Junction City Police Chief Mark Waddell, an advocate for the technology.

“It is a technology that’s part of the future, but the future is here,” Waddell told city councilors in September.

While technology has long existed to parse images for number and letter values, a security industry observer described a competitive marketplace to sell license-plate readers.

“Because the functionality has become more widespread, the number of companies that can offer this to law enforcement and transportation authorities has definitely increased,” Geoff Kohl, a senior director with the Security Industry Association, said in an email.

A June market survey report published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security listed 16 commercial, off-the-shelf automated license-plate reader systems, often referred to as ALPR systems.

“Advances in machine learning, computer vision, and artificial intelligence (AI) have made ALPR systems more affordable and more effective,” the report stated.

In-car license-plate readers

Other police agencies have also recently made technological transitions. 

The Oregon State Police, starting this past June, began a “lifecycle replacement of our old camera system” for patrol vehicles, spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said in an email.

The new cameras, part of Axon’s “Fleet 3” camera system, capture license plate images, but “OSP does not partner with Axon in terms of data sharing,” Kennedy said.

“OSP owns all data from in car ALPR in order to comply with state laws. OSP utilizes ALPR to locate missing/endangered persons (i.e. Amber alert) or high-level crimes in accordance with policy and has a retention policy for data, so it’s not retained indefinitely,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s response touched on some of the concerns raised by citizens in Eugene and in Springfield, who have turned out at public meetings to oppose use of the technology.

Citizens and grassroots groups like Eyes Off Eugene have said vulnerable groups could be targeted by the technology.

Some have voiced a worry that data from the cameras could be used by federal agencies for immigration enforcement, for example. In Oregon, state and local police are generally prohibited from assisting with immigration enforcement unless directed to do so by a judge’s warrant.

Eugene police say only police agencies in Oregon can access their license-plate reader data, and that sharing is done only with the department’s explicit permission. Springfield police say federal agencies are excluded from their data sharing unless there’s a court order stating otherwise.

Neither Eugene nor Springfield police use in-car license-plate reader technology.

Junction City viewpoints

For data collected by Junction City’s license-plate reader cameras, “we wouldn’t share with the federal government,” Waddell, the police chief, said in an interview. “We’re not going to share with agencies that have no reason to know what’s going on in Junction City.”

He described the in-car cameras as already helping solve crimes, but so far the department does not have a formal, stand-alone policy governing use of the technology.

“If that policy is needed, I’ll look into it, and I’ll bring it back in front of [the city] council,” Waddell said.

He said he thinks of Junction City as a gateway to Lane County. The town of about 7,000 people sits on Highway 99.

The in-car camera system provides near-instant alerts to officers when a plate matches that of a stolen vehicle, for example. The Junction City system is synced to what’s known as the National Crime Information Center, an FBI database with information about stolen property as well as missing and wanted persons.

Officers in Junction City ride with mobile data terminals, which are computers inside their vehicles. Using the license-plate reader system, “a hit will show up immediately,” with officers then able to react to the information, Waddell said.

“They can look at it quickly and determine what they need to do, if they need to turn around and go confirm it,” Waddell said. The system lists the likelihood of a match, but Waddell said officers must confirm the accuracy of the plate reading themselves before taking action.

The Axon system seeks to match “plate reads” to “lists of plates of interest (hotlists),” according to information published online by the company. The system “supports any hotlist you are using today, including NCIC vehicle list, state, provincial, regional, and any lists generated by your agency,” according to Axon.

Waddell told city councilors that the technology is not only useful when it comes to major crimes but also helpful with “a lot of low-hanging fruit crimes that would have not been solved otherwise” or that would have taken much longer to investigate without help from the license-plate reader system.

Waddell said he’s open to feedback from the community about department decisions.

“If we’re going to do things in town, I want input. I want people to know that there’s some thought behind it,” Waddell said.

So far, however, unlike in Eugene, 20 minutes south, few residents have voiced an opinion about the technology in public meetings. At an Oct. 14 meeting, a caller from Eugene voiced opposition to license-plate reader technology during the council’s public comment period, but no one else spoke on the topic.

The town’s mayor, Ken Wells, said in an interview he’s heard “nothing in depth” from town residents about the cameras, only a general question about whether the topic is being discussed.

As far as adding mounted cameras, “we have made no decisions,” Wells said, adding that it would be up to Waddell as far as when the council might next see pole-mounted cameras on their agenda.

Council questions 

At an Oct. 28 council work session, Axon representatives described the pole-mounted camera proposal for Junction City.

Patrick Newton, an Axon account executive, said “the scope of work is eight separate locations primarily focused on the ingress-egress of the city.”

Documents prepared by Axon listed “nonbinding” estimates ranging from $87,969.60 to $103,958.40 for different mounted-camera systems, with each cost estimate covering five years of service.

Six weeks earlier, a representative of Flock Safety described the company’s technology.

“There are over 20 law enforcement agencies in Oregon that are already using Flock,” said Lily Ho, a public affairs manager with Flock Safety, who also delivered her presentation remotely. The company’s offer to Junction City included a 60-day opt-out period to try the technology.

At the most recent council work session, on Oct. 28, councilors had questions about the technology’s use. One city councilor asked about the lifespan of the Axon cameras.

Newton said, “conservatively, five to eight years,” then went on to talk about how any software upgrades — “new algorithms or unique identifiers or any type of enhanced functionality” — would be included.

Newton said the system does not access state vehicle registration data, meaning that the information stored about “read plates” doesn’t include owner information.

Asked about the data sharing capability with other police agencies, Newton said it depends on which agencies use Axon license-plate readers, and that such data-sharing would be done “on an invite-only” basis.

“More importantly, there would be deep user permissions to ensure if someone does search those images, there is a full audit trail for Junction City to understand when it was searched, who was it searched by, [and] the reason, the case number attached to that search as well,” Newton said.

Newton added: “By no means are we going to have a type of national network where someone can allow your images to be searched nationally, so we do not have that functionality.”

Asked by a councilor if the system could require a search warrant before allowing outside agencies to search Junction City’s trove of license-plate data, Newton said the city does not have to allow anyone to search the data.

“Not to say that another agency might not invite you to share, to see their images, but by no means are you required to share with anybody outside of Junction City jurisdiction,” Newton said.

Axon’s vision

Materials prepared for the City Council of Junction City noted that Axon’s pole-mounted camera are likely not ready for installation until next year.

A company spokesperson, in an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, said Axon announced its line of pole-mounted cameras in April. Installations will begin later this year for its Lightpost version, which mounts on existing streetlight infrastructure, and its Outpost model, mounted on poles or other fixed structures, according to Kristin Lowman, an Axon spokesperson.

“Both products are designed with livestreaming capabilities. Whether livestreaming is enabled, and how the resulting data is managed, are determined entirely by the customer agency,” Lowman said in an email.

Lowman also stated the company is “deeply committed to ensuring that our technologies enhance public safety outcomes while respecting individual privacy and civil liberties.”

The company in 2019 announced its in-car license-plate reader system.

A federal Bureau of Justice Statistics report found that, in 2020, a majority of police agencies serving populations of 50,000 or more made use of license-plate readers. 

But only about 17.5% of departments serving populations between 2,500 and 9,999 people used them. In 2019, Axon’s announcement about its in-car ALPR systems said the company was “making it affordable for every patrol.”

Officers and technology

Junction City is Waddell’s hometown, but on the wall of his office are reminders of his 27 years as a police officer in Tualatin, a city of about 27,000 some 12 miles south of Portland.

“I have homegrown roots. But I went to a professional agency for a long time,” said Waddell, the town’s chief since August 2023.

Junction City records provided to Lookout Eugene-Springfield after a records request show the city paying $151,212.60 over 60 months for its 11 “Fleet 3 Advanced” in-car license-plate reader cameras, plus $2,700 for a related ALPR service. Waddell in May signed the contract, which also provided for additional police technology from Axon.

Documents from Flock listed a two-year total of $59,450, including the installation of five “Falcon” cameras and two “Falcon” cameras equipped to read license plates from a longer distance.

Waddell said that cost will factor into his thinking about whether he asks the town’s City Council to consider paying for additional cameras.

The department now has 10 full-time officers and another working part-time, with the budget, for now, including funding for 11.5 sworn law enforcement officers, including the chief’s position, Waddell said.

In presentations to the City Council, representatives from Flock Safety and Axon both described their systems as a “force multiplier” for departments with a limited number of officers.

Waddell said he’s concerned about a retiring deputy chief’s position possibly not being replaced because of a lack of funding. Already, a single officer may be on patrol at night, he said.

“I’m still a big fan of old-school policing. Show up, ask questions and find your bad guy,” Waddell said.

Waddell said he’s pursuing grant funding for the license-plate reader technology, but if there is a budget choice to be made, it will be for officers.

“Even though technology is helpful, and it’s going to be great, I think when somebody’s at home and someone breaks into their house and they dial 911, they want an officer to show up. They don’t want a camera,” Waddell said.