OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma Representative says the state’s Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) are being misused by law enforcement.

When News 4 spoke with Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola) in August, he claimed law enforcement was abusing the purpose of ALPRs, which is used to make sure Oklahoma drivers are insured.

Gann and others presented how ALPR cameras are infringing on peoples 4th Amendment right.

He says if action isn’t taken soon on governing how law enforcement is using these cameras, the citizens of Oklahoma will end up paying for it.

“These are serious violations of people’s rights and this comes from a lack of internal controls,” Gann said. “We have feds using local cops passwords to do immigration surveillance with flock cameras. It is the fact that he can pass his password around to anybody he wants to, to get onto this system is a problem. We need internal controls otherwise we create more victims with these flock cameras.”

License plate readers have been legal in Oklahoma since 2018.

The cameras intention was to enforce the Compulsory Insurance Law, making sure drivers aren’t on the road without insurance.

“Under the appropriate use, this is a good thing,” Shena Burgess, Attorney said. “We want people to have insurance. If people have insurance, then our insurance rates go down. I was all for that part.”

Oklahoma’s Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (UVED) Program says these cameras have helped greatly, drastically reduced the number of uninsured drivers on the road.

Over the past seven years, we’ve realized a significant reduction in uninsured vehicles operating on Oklahoma roadways. UVED offers Oklahomans a chance to achieve compliance without law enforcement interaction, without criminal charges, without court costs, and without time
lost from work, school, or home.

Spokesperson for Uninsured Vehicle Enforcement Diversion (UVED)

However, Burgess says those cameras are being used for much more.

“The Tulsa County Sheriffs Office testified in a federal court that they use the Automated License Plate Readers all the time, for purposes that have nothing to do with whether or not the vehicles have insurance,” Burgess said.

Gann says this has led to instances where law enforcement have pulled over the wrong person thinking they were a suspect in a crime.

“We have victims of mass surveillance out there already,” Gann said. “When tag numbers are misread, you have people like this, where her and her 12 year-old sister were held at gunpoint because of a misread on a tag.”

He also mentions that this is a violation of your 4th Amendment right.

“The 4th Amendment offers security to a person when they place themselves in a constitutionally protected area albeit home, office, hotel room or automobile,” Gann said.

Burgess says this is a major concern for her, and what this could mean for future court cases.

“Once challenges start happening, civil lawsuits are going to follow,” Burgess said. “It is going to be our citizens who end up paying for this.”

The meeting was supposed to be a joint study between Gann and Rep. Tim Turner (R-Kinta), but Gann told Turner he would be taking up the allotted time, so Turner decided to withdraw his study.

They say they will continue to work toward a solution over the misuse of ALPR cameras.