3 days ago
License plate reader vote postponed amid community, council concerns
AUSTIN (KXAN) — According to an email sent to Austin city council members and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, City Manager TC Broadnax will postpone a vote on whether or not Austin police can continue to use license plate readers.
The city manager wrote:
'While I appreciate the Austin Police Department's thorough presentation at today's work session regarding the Automated License Plate Reader technology and have confidence that APD can continue to use this tool in a responsible way focused on keeping Austinites safe, I am also sensitive to community concerns and outstanding questions from members of the City Council.
Given concerns expressed today, I have decided to withdraw this item from the agenda at this time to provide more opportunities to address council members' questions and do our due diligence to alleviate concerns prior to bringing this item back to City Council for consideration.'
It's unclear when license plate reader technology may come back to the city council for a vote.
KXAN has reached out to APD for a response. During Tuesday's work session, APD explained to the dais why it finds the technology beneficial.
'This police department is 300 officers short. Currently, we do not have enough officers to [perform] the job that we would prefer to do without the use of technology to supplement [our] work,' said Assistant Austin Police Chief Sheldon Askew.
'Today we heard powerful testimony from residents, nonprofit leaders, privacy experts, and many others,' said Council Member Mike Siegel in a release. 'We are in an unprecedented time of authoritarian rule at the state and federal levels, and we should not be using City of Austin resources to fund a mass surveillance tool that can be used by private companies, immigration authorities, and other outside entities. I look forward to working with my colleagues on Council to support public safety strategies do not create such a risk of injury to our diverse communities.'
You can read more about the contents of that work session and the discussion had here.
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