Lemont (IL) Police Department Automated License Plate Readers

The Lemont Police Department uses automated license plate readers (“ALPR”).  ALPRs are high-speed cameras that scan their surroundings for vehicle license plates.  ALPR cameras can be fixed-location (e.g. mounted on poles) or vehicle-mounted. When an ALPR camera scans a license plate, it records an image of the plate called a “detection” or “plate scan.” The ALPR system’s software then uploads these images of license plates to a centralized database hosted and managed by a private ALPR database service provider. The detections in the database include the date, time, and location of the detection, as well as a photograph of the vehicle and its plate. Law enforcement agencies can enter license plate numbers into the database and the database will return a list of such all instances in which its ALPR cameras detected that plate. Law enforcement agencies can also elect to make their detections accessible to other law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement agencies can also create lists of wanted license plates (“hot lists”) in the database and the database will alert that agency of all future detections of that plate (“hits”) when they occur.  Even if a law enforcement agency does not operate its own ALPR cameras, it can still subscribe to a ALPR database service to conduct searches of detections or receive hits for vehicles of interest to their investigations. 

Vigilant Solutions is the most prolific provider of ALPR database access services for law enforcement.  Vigilant’s database of ALPR detections is called the National Vehicle Location Service (“NVLS”).  Vigilant’s law enforcement clients access this database via Vigilant’s software and online portal, called the Law Enforcement Archival Reporting Network (“LEARN”).  Vigilant, a subsidiary of Chicago-based Motorola Solutions, also produces and sells ALPR hardware.

In 2019, the Lemont Police Department entered into a contract with Vigilant Solutions for the operation of ALPR cameras on Vigilant’s network and for access to Vigilant’s LEARN/NVLS database.[1]  In 2020, LPD paid Vigilant Solutions $1,925.00 for operation of its cameras on Vigilant’s network.[2]  In the portion of 2019 LPD’s ALPR cameras were in operation, they recorded 42,080 detections, and no hits for a hit rate of 0%.[3]  LPD shares and receives detection data with numerous other law enforcement agencies.[4]  LPD does not share its hot lists with other law enforcement agencies but does receive hot lists from other agencies.[5]  LPD has an official ALPR policy.[6]  LPD did not perform any LEARN/NVLS license plate searches in 2019.[7]

[1] Lemont-Vigilant Solutions Enterprise Service Agreement, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436446-lemont-il-police-alpr-vigilant-solutions-enterprise-service-agreement

[2] Lemont Vigilant Solutions Invoice 2020, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436448-lemont-il-police-alpr-invoices-2020

[3] Lemont Detections and Hits Report, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436447-lemont-il-police-alpr-hits-detections-2019

[4] Lemont LEARN Agency Data Sharing Report 2020, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436445-lemont-il-police-alpr-agency-sharing-2020

[5] Id.

[6] Lemont Police Department ALPR Policy, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436449-lemont-il-police-alpr-policy

[7] Lemont ALPR Viewed Records Report 2019, available at: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20436450-lemont-il-police-alpr-viewed-records-2019