STATE OF NEW JERSEY
218th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2018 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman AMY H. HANDLIN
District 13 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes time limit for retention of automated license plate reader data by law enforcement agency.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning automated license plate reader data and supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Any law enforcement agency that uses an automated license plate reader may retain the acquired data for a period of 48 hours, after which the data shall be purged from the agency’s data storage device or system.
b. As used in this section, “automated license plate reader” means a system consisting of a camera or cameras and related equipment that automatically and without direct human control locates, focuses on, and photographs license plates and vehicles that come into range of the device, that automatically converts digital photographic images of scanned license plates into electronic text documents, that is capable of comparing scanned license plate text data with data files for vehicles on a list programmed into the device’s electronic memory, and that notifies law enforcement, whether by an audible alert or by other means, when a scanned license plate matches the license plate on the programmed list. The term includes both devices that are placed at a stationary location and mobile devices affixed to a law enforcement vehicle that are capable of operating while the vehicle is in motion.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes a time limit for the retention of automated license plate reader data. Specifically, under this bill, any law enforcement agency that uses an automated license plate reader may retain the acquired data for up to 48 hours, after which the data is required to be purged from the agency’s data storage device or system.
The bill defines “automated license plate reader” as a system consisting of a camera or cameras and related equipment that automatically and without direct human control locates, focuses on, and photographs license plates and vehicles that come into range of the device, that automatically converts digital photographic images of scanned license plates into electronic text documents, that is capable of comparing scanned license plate text data with data files for vehicles on a list programmed into the device’s electronic memory, and that notifies law enforcement, whether by an audible alert or by other means, when a scanned license plate matches the license plate on the programmed list. The term includes both devices that are placed at a stationary location and mobile devices affixed to a law enforcement vehicle that are capable of operating while the vehicle is in motion.