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License-plate readers · Rice

Rice

Using license-plate readers · 2 agencies documented

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Faribault Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety, Axon
Cameras
10
Flock fixed cameras in town as of July 2026, per KEYC. The 2025 audit and portal counted 5. Axon squad readers are not counted.
Contract
Flock Safety: year · approved by City of Faribault (body not stated) · Renewal of the first five cameras was funded in July 2026. KEYC put the operating cost at about $3,000 per camera per year. (KEYC News Now, July 27, 2026)
  1. Feb. 27, 2024 The Flock fixed-reader program began, per the audit. (Filed with Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Aug. 27, 2025)
  2. July 8, 2024 Axon squad-car plate readers began. (Filed with Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Aug. 27, 2025)
  3. Aug. 27, 2025 An independent ALPR audit was done, covering Feb. 27, 2024 to Aug. 15, 2025. (Filed with Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Aug. 27, 2025)
  4. July 2026 City funding to renew the Flock subscription for the first five cameras was approved. (KEYC News Now, July 27, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • KEYC says the first five cameras came in 2023. The audit gives Feb. 27, 2024 as the program start, and we use the audit date.
  • The Flock portal (last updated Aug. 9, 2025) shows 30-day retention, lists immigration and traffic enforcement as prohibited uses, and shows 64 outside organizations with access.
  • The department was on the 2025 BCA list.

From agency records.

Northfield Police Department

Status
Checked: no program found
Vendors
  1. March 2026 The police chief said the department has no Flock contract, no plate-reader cameras and no in-car plate-reader software. (KYMN Radio, March 27, 2026)
  2. July 2026 The chief said again that the city has no Flock cameras and no talks with the council about adding them. (KYMN Radio, July 20, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • The chief said in March 2026 that squads have Axon camera systems but do not use in-car plate-reader software. Interview dates were not given; events are dated by month.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

  1. 2015 Minn. Stat. § 13.824 enacted (2015 c 67, s 3); later amended in 2021 (1st Spec. Sess.) and 2024 (c 127). It limits what ALPRs may collect, requires destruction of non-investigative data within 60 days, limits sharing to qualifying law-enforcement agencies, requires a public log of use and list of fixed locations, requires a biennial independent audit filed with the Legislative Commission on Data Practices and others within 30 days, requires written authorization and an active-investigation basis for access, and bars tracking an investigative subject without a warrant or exigent circumstances. (Enactment year only; month not checked.) (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, date not shown)
  2. 2015 Subdivision 8 requires agencies to notify the BCA within 10 days of installing or using an ALPR (including fixed locations); the BCA keeps a public list of agencies and reader locations unless a location is classified as security information. (Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, date not shown)
  3. Nov. 20, 2025 The Legislative Commission on Data Practices took public testimony on ALPR and body-camera reporting requirements. (Legislative Coordinating Commission, Nov. 20, 2025)
  4. Dec. 11, 2025 The commission's members discussed ALPR and body-camera reporting requirements and potential statutory updates. (Legislative Coordinating Commission, Dec. 11, 2025; Legislative Coordinating Commission, Dec. 11, 2025)
  5. March 12, 2026 HF 4205 (Tabke) introduced: it would tighten ALPR data restrictions, centralize ALPR data in the BCA, and regulate private-entity ALPR use; referred to House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law with no further action shown. (Minnesota Legislature / Revisor of Statutes, March 12, 2026)
  6. March 23, 2026 Senate companion SF 4739 (Verbeten) introduced and referred to Judiciary and Public Safety; no further action shown. Its text would amend § 13.824 and add related provisions elsewhere in state law. (Minnesota Legislature / Revisor of Statutes, March 23, 2026; Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, March 19, 2026)
  7. July 2026 A Star Tribune investigation published in July 2026 (exact date not confirmed) reported that law enforcement agencies inside and outside Minnesota searched plate-reader data from Twin Cities suburbs for civil immigration enforcement. Sahan Journal said the investigation found about 30 state, county and federal agencies ran such searches on cameras in at least eight suburbs between November 2025 and March 2026. MPR News reported hundreds of such searches, mostly on Fridley's cameras. The Minneapolis City Council bulletin said the investigation reported that federal immigration agencies such as ICE could access Flock data. In October 2026 the Star Tribune said the searches took place during Operation Metro Surge. (Sahan Journal, Aug. 18, 2026; MPR News, Aug. 17, 2026; City of Minneapolis, Oct. 1, 2026; Government Technology (TNS / Minnesota Star Tribune), Aug. 4, 2026; Government Technology (TNS / Minnesota Star Tribune), Oct. 26, 2026; FOX 9, Aug. 14, 2026)
  8. Oct. 30, 2026 The BCA public list, checked Oct. 30, 2026, names 117 agencies that reported using ALPR or devices with ALPR capability. The page shows no 'last updated' date. (Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, date not shown)

State agencies

Minnesota State Patrol

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
PIPS Technology
Cameras
6
ALPR systems on patrol vehicles at the 2024 audit.
Sources
Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, date not shown
  1. Feb. 27, 2024 Audit (Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023) reported six active ALPR systems on patrol vehicles and no stationary units; it reviewed the PIPS Technology BOSS system. (Minnesota Legislative Reference Library (filed audit), Feb. 27, 2024)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Still on the BCA public list (no fixed locations) as of Oct. 30, 2026; no 2025-2026 audit located.

From agency records.