Litchfield County license-plate readers

Watertown Police Department

Status: Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors: Vendor not named in source
Cameras: Count not documented
No count found; the 2022 report says only 'several'.
Sources: WFSB, July 14, 2022

July 14, 2022 WFSB reported that Watertown police had installed several license plate readers around town; the report names no vendor. (WFSB, July 14, 2022)

Conflicts and open questions

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

2012 A 2012 license plate reader bill cleared two legislative committees but never received a House floor vote, the Middletown Press reported in 2026. (The Middletown Press, via GovTech, Feb. 4, 2026)
June 19, 2022 CT Mirror reported that Connecticut then had no statute governing police use of plate reader data and did not require its deletion by any deadline; measures the ACLU backed in 2012 and 2013 to purge data after 14 days did not advance. (CT Mirror, June 19, 2022)
Aug. 21, 2023 The Connecticut Post reported, citing state police, that state and local agencies had purchased 93 plate readers in total, and said no current figure existed for how many were active statewide. (Connecticut Post, via GovTech, Aug. 21, 2023)
Nov. 10, 2025 The ACLU of Connecticut and allied groups called for a statewide moratorium on plate readers until legislation passes, and the ACLU said it filed 94 public records requests with police departments, including one to the Connecticut State Police. (ACLU of Connecticut, Nov. 10, 2025; WSHU, Nov. 11, 2025; Journal Inquirer, via GovTech, Nov. 11, 2025)
Feb. 4, 2026 The Middletown Press, crediting a CT Insider investigation, reported that out-of-state police and other authorities had run thousands of searches of Connecticut camera data, often tagged "ICE" or "ICE-assist". It also reported that no official tally shows how many Connecticut towns use readers and that officials keep no central list of them. (The Middletown Press, via GovTech, Feb. 4, 2026)
March 9, 2026 The Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on HB 5449, An Act Concerning Automated License Plate Reader Systems. (Connecticut General Assembly, April 9, 2026; CT Mirror, March 10, 2026)
March 18, 2026 The Government Administration and Elections Committee set a public hearing on HB 5552, on state contract requirements for plate reader information. The committee approved a substitute on March 23, and the bill was tabled for the House calendar on April 9. (Connecticut General Assembly, April 9, 2026)
March 23, 2026 The Judiciary Committee approved a substitute HB 5449, 32-9. It was tabled for the House calendar on April 9. (Connecticut General Assembly, April 9, 2026; Connecticut General Assembly, April 9, 2026)
April 2026 The state Senate passed SB 397, which carried plate reader language that the ACLU of Connecticut says came from HB 5449. CT Mirror reported no tally. (CT Mirror, April 14, 2026; ACLU of Connecticut, May 6, 2026)
April 7, 2026 The Office of Fiscal Analysis note on HB 5449 said the Police Officer Standards and Training Council had already adopted a plate reader model policy and that DESPP had the expertise to write regulations, projecting no fiscal impact. (Connecticut Office of Fiscal Analysis, April 7, 2026)
May 2026 The House passed SB 397 91-53, CT Mirror reported on May 1; the no votes were every House Republican plus four Democrats. (CT Mirror, May 1, 2026)
May 2026 The Justice Department sued Connecticut and officials including Attorney General William Tong over SB 397, WTIC reported on May 16. The report describes a challenge to rules on federal officers such as face coverings and does not mention the plate reader provisions. Tong said the state would "vigorously defend the law." (WTIC News, May 16, 2026)
May 2026 The Journal Inquirer reported that Attorney General William Tong had said earlier that he intended to examine the searches CT Insider uncovered. No Attorney General opinion or enforcement action on plate readers was found. (Journal Inquirer, via Police1, May 7, 2026)
May 4, 2026 SB 397 was approved as Public Act 26-14; sections 13 to 15 regulate plate readers. Most operating limits apply from October 1, 2026, and contract requirements apply from the section's effective date. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 caps retention of plate reader data at 21 days, with exceptions including warrants and court orders, supervisor-approved evidence holds in active criminal investigations, and de-identified traffic analytics. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 bars using plate reader systems or data to assist immigration enforcement, to investigate legal reproductive or gender-affirming care, to identify people in First Amendment activity, or to target people by protected characteristics. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 limits sharing to other Connecticut public agencies; individuals seeking data on vehicles registered to them; law enforcement in New York, Rhode Island or Massachusetts and multijurisdictional task forces with a Connecticut member, on written assurance of compliance; and other law enforcement, federal included, only with a judge's probable cause warrant or for a possible Terrorist Screening Database match. It bars real-time, bulk or automatic access except in response to a documented, case-specific request. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 makes plate reader data confidential and not a public record, while device locations (with a federal funding exception) and redacted audit and access logs are public. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 lets the Attorney General sue vendors, with civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation, and lets aggrieved people seek injunctive or declaratory relief against public agencies from October 1, 2026. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026; Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
May 4, 2026 PA 26-14 deadlines: POST model policy by December 1, 2026; agency adoption and a standard reporting form by January 1, 2027; annual agency reports each January 31; a consolidated UConn Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy report by July 30, 2027; DESPP regulations by January 1, 2028. (Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026)
Aug. 5, 2026 Senators Bob Duff and James Maroney asked towns to hold off voluntarily on installing new plate readers and Flock cameras, promised further privacy legislation in 2027, and said they would ask DESPP for a town-by-town tally of where Flock cameras are and how many there are. (Connecticut Senate Democrats, Aug. 5, 2026; WFSB, Aug. 5, 2026)
Aug. 7, 2026 Gov. Ned Lamont asked POST to issue guidance on safety cameras and plate readers within 30 days for local and state police, and urged municipalities to "immediately pause the installation of any new cameras and ALPRs" until it was final. (Office of the Governor of Connecticut, Aug. 7, 2026)
Aug. 12, 2026 The Office of Legislative Research issued report 2026-R-0125 summarizing the new law, citing PA 26-14 sections 13 to 15 as amended by PA 26-76 section 46. (Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, Aug. 12, 2026)
Sept. 2026 POST adopted a report recommending seven-day retention rather than 21, along with periodic audits, a required case number for data lookups and a ban on shared user accounts. Its chair called the recommendations "only advisory." Reports differ on length (59 or 50 pages), and no vote tally was reported. (CT Mirror, Sept. 24, 2026; Connecticut Public, Sept. 24, 2026)
Sept. 2026 A POST survey counted 1,564 plate reader cameras statewide, as reported by agencies. Of 97 responding agencies, 71 reported fixed readers, and 19 agencies reported no cameras deployed. The largest single agency, unnamed, reported 323 cameras. Reports differ on the vendor figures for Flock (39.4%), Axon (28.3%) and Rekor (24.2%): WFSB describes them as shares of respondents, CT Mirror as shares of cameras. (WFSB, Sept. 24, 2026; CT Mirror, Sept. 24, 2026)
Sept. 29, 2026 WFSB reported that Flock emailed Connecticut departments about a "security incident" in which device names, locations and types were put online. Flock said no pictures, footage or sensitive police data got out, and that it first learned of the access problem in November 2025. (WFSB, Sept. 29, 2026; NBC Connecticut, Oct. 5, 2026)
Oct. 1, 2026 The law's operating limits took effect. WFSB reported that Flock capped retention at 21 days in its Connecticut software and warned that agencies failing to confirm they would follow state rules would lose access to Connecticut agencies' data. (WFSB, Oct. 1, 2026; Connecticut General Assembly, May 4, 2026)

State agencies

Connecticut State Police (DESPP)

Status: Using license-plate readers
Vendors: Flock Safety, Vendor not named in source
Cameras: 15
At least 14 cruiser-mounted cameras and one stationary reader, per the Journal Inquirer in November 2025, which also reported 30 more on order as of May 2025. The article names no source for these figures and no vendor for them.
Sources: Journal Inquirer, via GovTech, Nov. 11, 2025; The Day, via GovTech, Nov. 3, 2025

Aug. 21, 2023 The Connecticut Post reported, citing state police, that 93 plate readers had been purchased, and said no current figure existed for how many were active statewide. (Connecticut Post, via GovTech, Aug. 21, 2023)
Nov. 2024 Inside Investigator reported that DESPP never answered its November 2024 records request about plate reader data. (Inside Investigator, July 12, 2026)
Nov. 2025 The Day listed the state police among at least 45 Connecticut departments with a Flock partnership, without saying whether that covers its own cameras. (The Day, via GovTech, Nov. 3, 2025)
Nov. 10, 2025 The ACLU of Connecticut said it sent a public records request to the state police about its plate reader use. (ACLU of Connecticut, Nov. 10, 2025; Journal Inquirer, via GovTech, Nov. 11, 2025)

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Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

University of Connecticut (parking enforcement)

Status: Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors: Vendor not named in source
Cameras: Count not documented
No count found. A UConn notice describes car-mounted cameras that match plates to permit records.
Sources: UConn Today, July 14, 2021; Inside Investigator, July 12, 2026

July 2021 UConn Parking and Transportation Services said in a July 2021 post that license plate recognition enforcement using car-mounted cameras would start that August. (UConn Today, July 14, 2021)
Nov. 2024 Inside Investigator reported that UConn gave it data from its ALPR system in response to requests filed in November 2024; the article does not say which UConn unit runs the system. (Inside Investigator, July 12, 2026)

Conflicts and open questions

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.