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License-plate readers · Barton County

Barton County

Program documented, current use unconfirmed · 1 agency documented

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Great Bend Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
20
Planned total, not a confirmed current count: 12 cameras in place plus 8 planned, per Great Bend Post, April 3, 2024. Great Bend Tribune (undated, about June 2024) said four of the eight had been installed. An October 2023 Post report described the eight as 6 fixed and 2 mobile.
Contract
Flock Safety: $132,000 24 months (federal grant amount, not a stated contract price) · April 1, 2024 council agenda item D.6, "Flock cameras grant": $132,000 to renew the lease on 12 cameras and add 8 for 24 months. The Post reported the money was expected to be released in September 2024. Council action on the item was not confirmed. (Great Bend Post, April 1, 2024; Great Bend Post, April 3, 2024)
  1. Feb. 20, 2023 A $132,000 federal grant, obtained with help from Sen. Jerry Moran's office, was announced for 12 plate-reading cameras at the city's five busiest entrances. (Great Bend Post, Feb. 20, 2023)
  2. Oct. 2023 The department reported it could buy 8 more cameras, 6 fixed and 2 mobile, in addition to the 12 in place. (Great Bend Post, Oct. 4, 2023)
  3. April 1, 2024 A Flock cameras grant appeared on the City Council agenda: $132,000 to renew the lease on 12 cameras and add 8 for 24 months. (Great Bend Post, April 1, 2024; Great Bend Post, April 3, 2024)
  4. June 2024 Chief Steve Haulmark told the council that after a driver crashed into a light pole and one of the cameras, police found the vehicle using other readers. Four of the eight added cameras were installed by then. He said, "We're not tracking anybody that we don't need to." (Great Bend Post, June 4, 2024; Great Bend Tribune, date not shown)
  5. June 11, 2024 Readers spotted a truck stolen in Wichita, which was then tracked down, according to a report to the council by the city administrator. (Great Bend Tribune, date not shown)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Status is unconfirmed because the newest usable program record is from June 2024.
  • The Flock vendor name comes from the Great Bend Post articles and the council agenda; the Tribune pieces do not name a vendor.
  • The Tribune pieces carry no publication date on the page. The June 2024 dating comes from the parallel Post report and the article's reference to Tuesday, June 11.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

  1. March 25, 2021 SB 305 would have required written reader policies and exempted the data from the Open Records Act; the ACLU of Kansas testified against it. A 2024 legislative memo says it died in committee. (ACLU of Kansas, March 25, 2021; Kansas Legislative Research Department, Feb. 1, 2024)
  2. 2022 SB 434 proposed routing requests for reader records to the owning agency and adding them to records agencies need not disclose. (Kansas Legislative Research Department, 2022)
  3. Feb. 25, 2022 A Kansas Legislative Research memo said state law at that time had no provision aimed specifically at plate-reader data or policies. (Kansas Legislative Research Department, Feb. 25, 2022)
  4. Feb. 1, 2024 Legislative researchers reported K.S.A. 45-221(a)(55) lets public agencies withhold records containing captured plate data or concerning a reader's location. The 2021 text of 45-221 does not contain this language, so it was added after 2021. (Kansas Legislative Research Department, Feb. 1, 2024; Justia, 2021)
  5. July 2026 The Kansas Justice Institute sued Wichita in Sedgwick County District Court on behalf of a resident, alleging the city's Flock program violates the Kansas Constitution. These are allegations; no ruling has been reported. (Kansas Reflector, July 2026)
  6. Sept. 30, 2026 KCUR reported the Institute for Justice database lists five Kansas reader-abuse cases, and that Sen. Josh Hawley introduced a federal bill limiting sale and retention of reader data. (KCUR, Sept. 30, 2026)
  7. Oct. 1, 2026 The Johnson County Post reported that without comprehensive state or federal law, departments set their own reader rules. (Johnson County Post, Oct. 1, 2026)

State agencies

Kansas Highway Patrol

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count found.
  1. Feb. 25, 2022 A legislative research memo, relaying a patrol officer's 2021 testimony, said readings go to secure servers at the Houston HIDTA office, are held six months and then purged, and that logging in requires vetting and a valid law-enforcement purpose. (Kansas Legislative Research Department, Feb. 25, 2022)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Evidence older than 12 months.

From agency records.