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License-plate readers · Douglas County

Douglas County

Program documented, current use unconfirmed · 2 agencies documented

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Lawrence Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
The last count found is from Nov. 15, 2016, when a reader at the South Lawrence Trafficway and Iowa Street was described as the department's seventh (Journal-World). No current count found.
  1. April 2011 The Journal-World reported grant-funded plate cameras behind stoplights at Clinton Parkway and Wakarusa Drive, with the city paying only for installation. (Lawrence Journal-World, April 29, 2011)
  2. June 2016 The department adopted a reader policy under which data is generally kept no more than 60 days unless it becomes evidence. (Lawrence Journal-World, Nov. 15, 2016)
  3. Nov. 2024 The City Commission approved an Axon contract extension on its consent agenda, totaling $3.2 million through 2029, of which Fusus is $270,816. Fusus can aggregate existing resources including license plate readers; no reader contract was reported. (Lawrence Journal-World, Sept. 9, 2025; The Lawrence Times, July 25, 2025)
  4. Sept. 6, 2025 The Journal-World reported safeguards for the Fusus camera program, including annual audits, user logs, and no sharing with outside agencies absent a formal written request. The article does not address plate readers. (Lawrence Journal-World, Sept. 6, 2025)
  5. Sept. 9, 2025 At a City Commission presentation on Fusus, Chief Rich Lockhart said the department has used city cameras since 2008 along with license plate readers. More than a dozen speakers asked for a pause. (Lawrence Journal-World, Sept. 9, 2025)
  6. April 29, 2026 Lockhart held a listening session on a draft camera policy covering the Fusus registry. Coverage did not address plate readers, and no date was set for a revised draft to reach the commission. (Lawrence Journal-World, April 29, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Start date differs: Town Talk (2016) says plate readers since 2009; Lockhart's 2025 statement pairs city cameras since 2008 with plate readers and may not date the readers specifically. Flagged.
  • Latest statement of plate-reader use found is Sept. 9, 2025, which is older than the 12-month window, so status is unconfirmed under the rule. The Axon contract is current, but no source shows it buys plate readers.
  • No source opened says the department uses Flock. The 2025 Journal-World story mentions Flock only in describing Columbia, Mo.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

University of Kansas (campus parking enforcement)

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count reported.
  1. 2015 The university began using plate-reading technology to issue parking tickets on campus, according to the Journal-World. (Lawrence Journal-World, Nov. 15, 2016)
Conflicts and open questions
  • This is parking enforcement, not the KU Public Safety Office. Nothing opened shows police use at KU; see unresolved.
  • Evidence is from 2016, so status is unconfirmed.

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.