License-plate readers · Rowan

Rowan

Using license-plate readers · 1 agency documented

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Morehead Police Department (City of Morehead)

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
8
Lex18 (Sept. 10, 2026) reported that the City of Morehead leases eight Flock cameras. By Oct. 2, 2026, WYMT/WKYT reported that all eight had been damaged or destroyed, leaving the city with no working cameras.
Contract
Flock Safety: · to June 2027 (LEX 18, Sept. 10, 2026)
Sources
LEX 18, Sept. 10, 2026; WKYT (via WYMT), Oct. 2, 2026
  1. Sept. 2026 The city found that seven of its eight leased Flock cameras had been destroyed. Mayor Laura White-Brown said the city was weighing whether to replace them. (LEX 18, Sept. 10, 2026)
  2. Oct. 2026 WKYT reported that all eight cameras were now damaged or destroyed. At a Friday council meeting, members talked about bringing in the public and outside experts to help decide whether to keep the cameras and how to regulate them. No decision was reported. (WKYT (via WYMT), Oct. 2, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Status is 'active' because the lease runs until June 2027. However, no cameras were working as of Oct. 2, 2026, and the council had not decided whether to replace them. An editor may prefer 'suspended'.
  • Lex18 reported that the city has leased the cameras for four years and paid for them from its budget, without giving an amount. The mayor told WKYT the cameras had led to the recovery of more than $80,000 in stolen property.
  • The Sept. 2026 destruction was first discovered on a Wednesday that Lex18 did not date (the article ran Sept. 10, 2026). The Oct. 2026 council meeting was described only as 'Friday' (the article ran Oct. 2, 2026). Both events are dated by month.
  • Neither article names the police department as the operator; both refer to the city's cameras. The agency is listed as Morehead PD because the city's police would run them.

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)