SBI seeks money to install license plate readers along interstates, highways | WSOC-TV

Our Take

Credit to WSOCTV9 for flagging this before it's buried in a line-item budget. When a state police agency asks lawmakers for cash to wire up interstates with automated license plate readers, that's not a routine equipment upgrade — it's a request to build a statewide tracking grid that logs where every driver goes, whether or not they're suspected of anything. Once that funding lands, the cameras tend to spread fast, and the data-sharing agreements that follow are rarely debated in public the way the initial appropriation is.

Highway corridors are especially attractive to agencies like the SBI because a handful of gantries can capture enormous volumes of traffic, feeding into networks that already share plate data across jurisdictions and, in some cases, with federal agencies. North Carolina residents should be asking who audits this data, how long it's retained, and whether local governments get any say before state money turns their commute into a permanent record.

We'll be watching how this funding request moves through the legislature. In the meantime, check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and visit take action if you want to push back before the next budget cycle locks this in.