An alert and a travel history are different tools.

Start with the nonmatch.

A plate reader observes a passing vehicle and compares the plate against a list. A qualifying match can produce an alert. But the technology can also preserve observations that do not match, allowing investigators to search earlier sightings later.

New Braunfels Police Department describes both timely alerts and retrospective investigative uses. Its published policy retains general plate reads for 30 days. Those capabilities have different implications for people whose vehicles were not subjects of alerts when observed. Read NBPD’s program explanation ↗

What we propose to keep.

The draft permits narrowly defined hit-only systems. An eligible hotlist entry must exist before the observation. A nonmatch is discarded immediately after comparison, without persistent storage. Candidate alerts require verification, and retained hits have access and retention limits.

Compliant equipment could operate at approved roadway crossings of the New Braunfels city boundary and on moving police vehicles during ordinary patrol. A parked vehicle cannot become a workaround for the fixed-location rule.

What we propose to end.

Historical ALPR systems would be prohibited for City use. The City could not retain, purchase, query or obtain prohibited non-hit histories through another agency, vendor or network.

This removes a retrospective investigative capability. We do not claim the change preserves every current use or that existing Flock equipment can simply be switched into compliance. A vendor must demonstrate the full system meets the ordinance’s requirements.

The rule follows the function.

Calling a product a different generation, using AI, or storing an encrypted derivative would not exempt a system capable of reconstructing an individual vehicle observation. The proposal governs what the technology does.

Read the full discussion draft ↗ · Read current NBPD Policy 3.06 ↗