Another Colorado city to start using automated license plate readers

New crime-fighting technology is coming to Lafayette.

Police will soon begin using the Flock Safety automatic license plate reader.

They are stationary cameras powered by solar panels.

They take vehicle and license information, in an effort to locate stolen cars or people with warrants. Police say no speed information is collected.

Several departments across the state and countless around the country use license plate readers. In Colorado, those agencies include, but are not limited to, the police departments in Aurora, Boulder, Denver, Erie, Littleton, Louisville and the Department of Public Safety, according to the ACLU of Colorado.

While the technology can help fight crime, the ACLU goes on to say that its use can track people's movements in immense detail.

"The information captured by the readers — including the license plate number and the date, time, and location of every scan — is being collected and sometimes pooled into regional sharing systems," the ACLU says on its website. "As a result, enormous databases of innocent motorists' location information are growing rapidly. This information is often retained for years, or even indefinitely, with few or no restrictions to protect privacy rights."

The Lafayette Police Department will talk more about the cameras at a public meeting on Thursday, Oct. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. at its headquarters, located at 451 North 111th Street in the community room.