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License-plate readers · Fayette

Fayette

Using license-plate readers · 2 agencies documented

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Lexington Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
125
125 Flock plate-reader cameras citywide, per WKYT (July 2025, with a breakdown by council district) and WEKU and WUKY (September 2026). The 2022 expansion brought the total to 100. The mayor's spring 2024 budget plan proposed 25 more, and WKYT counted 125 by July 2025.
Contract
Flock Safety: about $236,250 year · from Dec. 2022 · approved by Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council, 2022-12 (10-4 vote to add 75 cameras) (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Nov. 2022; WKYT, Dec. 6, 2022)
Contract
Flock Safety: $1.6 million total · from April 2024 · approved by Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council; initial approval 2024-04-09; LEX 18 reported on 2024-04-18 that a final vote was expected the next week · Five-year term. (LEX 18, April 18, 2024; WEKU, April 10, 2024)
Sources
Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Nov. 2022; WKYT, Dec. 6, 2022; LEX 18, April 18, 2024; WEKU, April 10, 2024; WKYT, July 25, 2025; Spectrum News 1, Aug. 28, 2026; WEKU, Sept. 4, 2026; WUKY, Sept. 5, 2026
  1. 2022 Lexington launched a pilot of 25 Flock license plate readers in the spring of 2022. (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Nov. 2022; LEX 18, April 18, 2024)
  2. Nov. 2022 Mayor Linda Gorton and Police Chief Lawrence Weathers asked the council to add 75 readers, for 100 in total, at an estimated $236,250 a year. The city said it consulted the ACLU, NAACP and Human Rights Commission on its policy and would publish locations after installation. (Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Nov. 2022)
  3. Dec. 2022 The Urban County Council voted 10-4 to expand the program to 100 cameras. Council members David Kloiber, Hannah LeGris and Jennifer Reynolds and Vice Mayor Steve Kay voted no. (WKYT, Dec. 6, 2022)
  4. April 9, 2024 Council members gave initial approval to a five-year extension of the Flock lease for the 100 cameras, about $1.6 million in total. The mayor's budget proposal added 25 cameras. (WEKU, April 10, 2024; LEX 18, April 18, 2024)
  5. July 2025 Police said quarterly audits run by the department's intelligence unit, covering April to June 2025, logged 38,896 searches and found that each one had a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The audits are posted on the police website. (WKYT, July 25, 2025)
  6. Aug. 2026 Spectrum News 1 reported that the department's most recent quarterly Flock audit, for Q2 2026, found no improper searches by its officers. (Spectrum News 1, Aug. 28, 2026)
  7. Aug. 27, 2026 Residents asked the Urban County Council during public comment to end the Flock agreement. Council member Emma Curtis spoke against keeping the cameras, and a few speakers supported them. (Spectrum News 1, Aug. 28, 2026; WEKU, Sept. 4, 2026)
  8. Sept. 4, 2026 Mayor Gorton said she would appoint an independent outside panel, with expertise in technology, civil rights and law, to review the city's use of Flock. It would look at best practices and at whether changes or a different vendor are needed. Chief Weathers backed the review. (WEKU, Sept. 4, 2026; WUKY, Sept. 5, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The city publishes camera locations and quarterly audit reports. The mayor said in September 2026 that no one had accused Lexington police of misusing the system.
  • The final April 2024 vote date and the member votes were not confirmed from a source we could cite. LEX 18 (2024-04-18) said a final vote was expected the following week.
  • The members of the review panel and its findings had not been published as of the sources we reviewed.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

University of Kentucky Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
15
15 Flock license plate reader cameras running from the Historic South Hill area to Kroger Field, per KyCIR/Louisville Public Media (January 2026).
Sources
Louisville Public Media / KyCIR, Jan. 13, 2026
  1. Dec. 2025 UK at first refused to release its camera locations. It released a map the day after the Attorney General's office notified it of a KyCIR open-records appeal in mid-December 2025. (Louisville Public Media / KyCIR, Jan. 13, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Contract amounts and dates were not reported.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

  1. April 5, 2022 Flock Safety told Spectrum News it had 34 Kentucky customers, 14 of them law enforcement agencies, but declined to name them. At that time Kentucky had no law limiting how long plate-reader data could be kept. (Spectrum News 1, April 5, 2022)
  2. Feb. 28, 2024 Senate Bill 380 (Sen. Adrienne Southworth) was filed. It would have defined who may use plate readers, set privacy safeguards, and let Kentucky State Police run an annual review of ALPR users. It was sent to the Senate Transportation Committee on March 1, 2024, and went no further. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, March 1, 2024)
  3. Jan. 7, 2026 Rep. John Hodgson (R-Fisherville) filed House Bill 58 to regulate automated license plate readers. Spectrum News reported that a similar Hodgson bill had passed the House 90-1 in the 2025 session, but the Senate did not take it up. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026; Spectrum News 1, Jan. 12, 2026)
  4. Jan. 14, 2026 Rep. T.J. Roberts (R-Burlington) filed House Bill 375. It would ban the use of plate readers, make a violation a Class D felony with a $10,000 fine, and allow civil suits. The bill was sent to the House Transportation Committee on Jan. 22, 2026, and saw no further action. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Jan. 22, 2026)
  5. Feb. 11, 2026 The House Judiciary Committee approved a revised HB 58 without opposition. As approved by the committee, the bill capped retention at 90 days unless the data is needed as evidence, limited sharing to other law enforcement agencies and the National Insurance Crime Bureau, and required officers to visually confirm a plate match before a stop. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026; Louisville Public Media / Kentucky Public Radio (via WKMS), Feb. 11, 2026)
  6. Feb. 18, 2026 The House passed HB 58 on an 89-9 vote. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026)
  7. March 24, 2026 The Senate passed an amended HB 58 on a 34-3 vote. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026)
  8. March 31, 2026 The House voted 70-19 to accept the Senate changes to HB 58 and sent the bill to the governor. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026)
  9. April 10, 2026 Gov. Andy Beshear signed HB 58 (Acts Chapter 71). It adds a new section to KRS Chapter 189 that limits ALPR use and the use and sale of ALPR data, sets a 90-day retention cap with exceptions for investigations and evidence-preservation notices, and requires law enforcement agencies to adopt and publish an ALPR policy. It also sets up a Transportation Cabinet permit process for readers on highway rights-of-way, lets the Cabinet, its contractors, insurers and lenders collect ALPR data for specified purposes, and adds a penalty in KRS 189.990. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, April 10, 2026)
  10. July 15, 2026 HB 58 took effect statewide, according to LEX 18. Hodgson told the station the bill took four years to pass. (LEX 18, July 16, 2026)
  11. July 2026 U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said in a social media post that he planned a federal bill to cut funding to cities and police departments that use Flock cameras. No bill number or text was reported. (WBKO (story originated at WAVE), July 29, 2026)
  12. Sept. 3, 2026 The legislature's Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary heard testimony on plate readers from Flock Safety, the Kentucky Retail Federation, Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson, the ACLU and ACLU of Kentucky, and the Cato Institute. Written statements came from Axon, Motorola Solutions, the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The ACLU of Kentucky asked governments to pause Flock contracts and order independent audits. (Kentucky Legislative Research Commission, Sept. 3, 2026; WUKY, Sept. 3, 2026; WKYT, Sept. 3, 2026; Kentucky State Fraternal Order of Police (via Kentucky LRC), Sept. 3, 2026)