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License-plate readers · Hancock County

Hancock County

Program documented, current use unconfirmed · 2 agencies documented

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Bay St. Louis Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Contract
Flock Safety: term · from Sept. 2024 · Bay St. Louis City Council approved a two-year Flock lease paid with a Mississippi Office of Homeland Security grant. The cost was not stated. Vote at the Tuesday meeting per the Sept. 3, 2024 article (likely Sept. 3, 2024). (WLOX, Sept. 3, 2024)
  1. Sept. 2024 The council approved a two-year lease of Flock cameras for busy intersections, paid with a state homeland security grant, after Police Chief Toby Schwartz pitched it. Schwartz said the city is partnering with Waveland, which received the same grant and installed its own cameras. (WLOX, Sept. 3, 2024)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Vote date from a weekday ('Tuesday') in the Sept. 3, 2024 article; likely Sept. 3, 2024.
  • The two-year lease from September 2024 would run to about September 2026. Whether it was renewed was not confirmed.
  • An undated Seacoast Echo article reports the council approved 25 new video cameras for $75,000 under a Department of Homeland Security grant; the city's chief administrative officer said they are security cameras, not plate readers. Not used as an event because the page has no date.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Waveland Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety
  1. Sept. 2024 Bay St. Louis's police chief told WLOX that Waveland had received the same state homeland security grant, had put up cameras, and was partnering with Bay St. Louis, which was approving a Flock contract. (WLOX, Sept. 3, 2024)
  2. Dec. 2024 In a story about Ocean Springs, WLOX said law enforcement agencies across South Mississippi, 'from Waveland to Moss Point,' use Flock cameras and tag readers. The story names no Waveland agency. (WLOX, Dec. 23, 2024)
Conflicts and open questions
  • No Waveland record was found.
  • The September 2024 article does not name a vendor for Waveland. It says Waveland got the same state homeland security grant, put up cameras and is partnering with Bay St. Louis, whose new cameras are Flock. The December 2024 article mentions Waveland only in a range phrase.

Secondhand report; not yet confirmed with the agency.

Statewide

  1. 2009 Mississippi's 2009 traffic-camera law, signed by Gov. Haley Barbour, bars counties and cities from installing cameras that automatically detect traffic violations; it passed the Senate 42-9 and the House 111-9. It does not expressly say whether cameras held by officers are covered. A 2025 bill, SB 2201, would have amended that law at Miss. Code Ann. § 17-25-19. (Magnolia Tribune (republished by Clarke County Tribune), Jan. 23, 2025)
  2. Feb. 22, 2017 WDAM reported that, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Mississippi was not among the 12 states with plate-reader-specific laws. NCSL's current state-statutes page lists Mississippi as "No statute identified." (WDAM 7, Feb. 22, 2017; National Conference of State Legislatures, date not shown)
  3. Oct. 18, 2023 The Mississippi Department of Homeland Security awarded Starkville police a $30,000 grant to buy three more license plate readers, adding to two already in use, WCBI reported. (WCBI, Oct. 18, 2023)
  4. May 21, 2024 In an opinion to Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, the Attorney General's office said state law does not expressly bar municipalities from using automatic license plate readers to verify motor vehicle insurance, that Department of Public Safety insurance-verification data may go to private entities if DPS authorizes it, and declined to opine on fee splits. The opinion does not address retention of reader data. (Mississippi Attorney General's Office, May 21, 2024)
  5. 2025 SB 2430 (Sen. Seymour, 2025) would bar counties and cities from using automated recording equipment that photographs rear plates to enforce motor vehicle liability insurance and require removal of such systems by Oct. 1, 2025; it has no retention or sharing provisions. Final status was not confirmed from an opened page. (Mississippi Legislature, Jan. 2025)
  6. 2025 HB 1709 (Rep. Holloway, 2025) proposed a $430,000 appropriation to the City of Carthage for its police department, including $325,000 for crime-prevention programs such as buying, installing and running license plate readers and live cameras. Whether it passed was not confirmed. (Mississippi Legislature, 2025)
  7. Jan. 2025 Two 2025 bills addressed officer-operated traffic cameras: SB 2201 (Sen. Joey Fillingane) would extend § 17-25-19 to manually operated recording equipment, and HB 1090 (Rep. Charles Blackwell) would require officers using such equipment to verify who was driving. The report followed Moss Point and Hattiesburg agreeing in fall 2024 to let officers use handheld radar cameras. (Magnolia Tribune (republished by Clarke County Tribune), Jan. 23, 2025)
  8. Jan. 10, 2025 HB 528 (Rep. Massengill) would have amended § 17-25-19 to bar camera or plate-recognition traffic enforcement by cities and counties, allowed police-owned mobile plate readers under conditions (a published written policy covering retention and sharing, annual audits, no stop on a reader hit alone, use limited to law-enforcement purposes), and required indefinite logs of who accessed data. It was referred to Judiciary B on Jan. 10, 2025, and died in committee Feb. 4, 2025. (Mississippi Legislature, Jan. 2025; Plural Policy (Open States legislative data), date not shown)
  9. 2026 A resident-started online petition seeks a statewide ban on license plate readers and Flock cameras in Mississippi and had more than 200 signatures, RHCJC News reported. (Mississippi Free Press (republishing RHCJC News, CC BY 4.0), Oct. 1, 2026)

State agencies

Mississippi Department of Public Safety, Office of Homeland Security

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
19
19 fixed plate readers statewide, per WDAM's Feb. 22, 2017 report; no newer count found.
  1. Feb. 22, 2017 WDAM reported the office operated 19 fixed plate readers around the state and purged data after 180 days. It also reported that a Hattiesburg police reader trailer bought with a $40,000 state grant would send data to the office. (WDAM 7, Feb. 22, 2017)
  2. Oct. 2023 WCBI reported Starkville police had received a $30,000 state homeland security grant to buy plate readers and planned to add three to the two it already ran. (WCBI, Oct. 18, 2023)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Status unconfirmed: no source within the last 12 months shows the fixed readers still in use.
  • WDAM named Vigilant Solutions only in connection with Lamar County, not this office, so vendor is unspecified.
  • Grant-making to local agencies is recorded as context; local recipients are leads for regional researchers.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Mississippi Highway Patrol

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
3
Three mobile plate readers, per WDAM's Feb. 22, 2017 report; no newer count found.
  1. Feb. 22, 2017 WDAM reported the Highway Patrol had three mobile plate readers and followed Department of Public Safety retention policy. (WDAM 7, Feb. 22, 2017)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Nothing found from the last 12 months on MHP reader use, contracts or I-55/I-20 cameras.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.