LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mayor Linda Gorton announced she will appoint an independent panel to review the automated license plate reader technology used by the city, citing concerns expressed by the public in recent months about the surveillance infrastructure.
The panel will examine whether the city’s ALPR system meets best practices and community needs, with expertise in technology, civil rights, and law. Gorton said she hopes to have the panel in place by the end of September.
“There have been questions raised locally and nationally about the technology itself,” Gorton said. “This panel will examine best practices and evaluate if improvements are needed, if a new vendor should be considered, or if other action should be taken.”
Police Chief Lawrence Weathers supports the review, and the mayor emphasized that the panel is not focused on police department conduct. “No one has accused our police of doing anything wrong,” Gorton said, adding that Weathers helped build a program with strict governance and audits ensuring accountability.
The city currently operates 125 license plate readers located in public places. According to police data, Flock license plate readers led to 75 people facing 243 charges in the first half of 2025, and officers seized 26 guns using the technology.
The devices capture only single images of license plates, basic vehicle descriptions, and the date, time and GPS location—without video, facial recognition capability, or the ability to be adjusted remotely. The city cannot use the readers for traffic enforcement or to identify occupants of vehicles.
The panel’s announcement comes as police departments across Kentucky have begun reconsidering their ALPR agreements amid privacy concerns. At least three Kentucky cities ended their agreements with Flock Safety this year. In Lexington, a group is calling on the city to end its Flock contract.
Gorton said there is considerable misunderstanding about what the technology can do. Locations of the license plate readers are available on the city’s website.
Sources
- LFUCG General News
- Chief Lawrence Weathers biography and tenure
- 2025 Flock camera performance data
- Kentucky cities reconsidering ALPR agreements
- Lexington community concerns about Flock cameras
This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from LFUCG General News, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lexingtonky.gov/news/mayor-appoint-independent-external-panel-review-automated-license-plate-reader-technology.
