While Madison has resisted installing license plate reading surveillance cameras, Dane County and most of the city’s neighbors have embraced the technology — with varying degrees of support.
More than 200 Wisconsin law enforcement agencies use license plate reading technology made by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, which has gained national attention recently for its wireless network that allows other departments like the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement to access data from some of the cameras.
Departments can choose who they share information with. The Dane County Sheriff’s Office, for example, has mutual agreements with multiple local law enforcement agencies but does not share the data with federal agencies, Cpt. Kerry Porter told the Wisconsin State Journal.
Data the county collects from its automated license-plate readers is stored for 30 days and then automatically deleted unless it is to be used for evidence in a legal proceeding, in which case it’s downloaded and saved, according to the sheriff’s office’s Flock policy…