State Rep. Joshua Siegel, R-Allentown, speaks at a news conference earlier this year.

A state lawmaker wants to change state law to make it easier for police departments to use automated license plate readers.

State Rep. Joshua Siegel, R-Allentown, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation that will remove some PennDOT rules that limit where license plate readers can be installed. Siegel said in his co-sponsorship memorandum that the type of license plate readers law enforcement agencies want to use capture license plates on camera so officers can compare them against license plate numbers on stolen cars or vehicles driven by those wanted for crimes.

PennDOT rules only allow license plate readers to be mounted on non-PennDOT structures, and even then only if approval is provided from the structure’s owner. Siegel said those rules are too limiting for police agencies to place the cameras where they are needed. Siegel wants the state Legislature to direct PennDOT to create a permitting process for license plate camera systems so they can be placed in the right-of-way on state-owned roads. Permits would be granted only to local law enforcement agencies and require the systems are used only for public safety purposes.

“PennDOT’s refusal to permit the installation of ALPR systems in the rights-of-way of state-owned roads has left parts of our city vulnerable to criminal activity, depriving law enforcement of crucial tools for crime prevention and investigation,” Siegel wrote in his memorandum. “There should be a process to permit the safe and responsible use of this technology on state roads on stand-alone and existing PennDOT infrastructure.”

License plate readers are not a new technology for police agencies. But costs for equipment have decreased to the point that the technology is becoming easier to acquire for smaller police departments.

Civil rights organizations, including the Brennan Center, have raised concerns about license plate readers in the past. License plate readers have helped track down murderers and vehicles that are part of attempts to lead police on high-speed chases, but the Brennan Center noted in a 2020 report that the systems are not always accurate. One randomized control trial in Vallejo, Calif., found that 37% of all ALPR “hits” from fixed readers (such as those attached to a street light) and 35 percent from mobile ALPRs were misreads. The report also notes high-profile successes across the country – including helping find a man accused of stabbing several people after breaking into a rabbi’s home during a Hanukkah celebration; a Tennessee girl abducted by her noncustodial father was recovered when a license plate camera spotted his car; and police were able to use information from a license plate reader to help halt a string of random shootings on highways in Kansas City, Mo.