Ogden police chief defends city's system of 41 license-plate readers though some have concerns

OGDEN — Ogden's 41 automated license-plate readers came under a microscope this week as city officials discussed the network, how it works and the safeguards meant to prevent abuse of the system.

Ogden Police Chief Jake Sube faced multiple questions about the system during an Ogden City Council work session, but defended the Flock-brand camera system and the city guidelines governing its use. The automated license-plate readers, or ALPRs, are located mainly in a broad area of central Ogden, and he said the system, which tracks cars by their license plate numbers, has helped recover stolen vehicles and locate suspects sought by authorities.

"In my opinion, we're probably one of the most strict as it relates to how we manage this information and how we manage our ALPR system," he said.

The work session comes amid heightened questions and concerns about the use of ALPRs in Utah and around the country by some who see them as an invasion of privacy and potential violation of the public's civil liberties. Sube though, said his aim is to use the data responsibly.

"I don't want carte blanche surveillance of our community, absolutely not. In no way, shape or form do I want that to be what Flock cameras are," he said. Officials took no formal action at the meeting.

Among other things, strict rules govern how the limited-number of Ogden officers with access may tap information from the Flock cameras, according to Sube. They'd have to provide rationale for accessing information, and their actions will be closely watched. Data tracked by the readers is retained 30 days, then permanently deleted, and the system, per local rules, may not be used for immigration enforcement initiatives.

Moreover, other law enforcement agencies, whether in Utah or outside the state, will face the same guidelines applicable to Ogden officers in seeking data from the readers. They don't have automatic access to the information. "They'd have to request and have those requirements met before we would then ourselves run it and provide it to them," he said.

Utah Sen. Calvin Musselman, R-West Haven, addressed City Council members at Tuesday's work session. With state officials likely to take the issue up during the 2027 legislative session, he said he attended to get a gauge of local concerns about ALPR systems. He also offered measured praise for the Ogden Police Department guidelines.

"From all appearances, it appears that Ogden is maybe going above and beyond what ... the momentum is at the state level," he said. Question marks remain, "but I think they may have created a gold standard here."

He didn't say much about what action Utah lawmakers may take except to say one of the potential ideas is to implement minimum standards across the state, though locales could have more rigorous standards.

ALPR systems are motion-activated and track the rear license plates of passing autos. But the cameras don't have facial recognition technology, according to Sube, nor any way to connect to the state's driver's license database, a concern of skeptics.

"It basically identifies a vehicle as an object at a location at a time and it's an investigative lead," Sube said. Misuse of license-plate reader technology is a class B misdemeanor, he said, but Ogden has received no accusations of improper use of the information.

Placement of 41 cameras questioned

Sube's assurances notwithstanding, he faced numerous questions, particularly from City Council members Alicia Washington and Kevin Lundell, who wondered about the placement of the 41 cameras. They are located in numerous older neighborhoods of a vast central swath of Ogden that's home to lower- to moderate-income households.

Washington said "a lot of our diversity" lives in the central part of Ogden while Lundell wondered why cameras aren't distributed in other parts of the city.

"I think it would lend credibility that we're not surveilling certain kinds of people if we were able to reallocate some of those resources to other areas of town, with not necessarily expanding, but reallocation," Lundell said.

Sube said the area where the cameras are located was picked because the program, when created in the late 2000s, was tied to funding provided via a federal-local partnership in effect at the time aimed at fighting violent crime in the zone.

That federal-local partnership is "not about targeting any particular demographic," Sube said, but addressing the higher rates of criminal activity in the area.

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