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License-plate readers · Ellis County

Ellis County

Program documented, current use unconfirmed · 1 agency documented

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Ellis County Sheriff's Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
3
Three cameras on one K-9 patrol vehicle, a mobile system, per Hays Post, Nov. 20, 2023. Not fixed roadside readers.
Contract
Vendor not named in source: $22,000 total · Purchase approved by the Ellis County Commission: $10,000 from the sheriff's capital improvement fund and $12,000 from the opioid fund. No vote count reported. (Hays Post, Nov. 20, 2023)
  1. Nov. 2023 The Ellis County Commission approved buying a plate reader for the sheriff's K-9 vehicle after a report by Sheriff Scott Braun. The system checks plates against DEA and Kansas Highway Patrol databases and alerts the officer and dispatch to a match; installation was expected in about two months. (Hays Post, Nov. 20, 2023)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The article says the commission acted on a Tuesday without giving the date, so the event is dated by month.
  • Purchase documented in 2023; no later evidence of use found.

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.