ALPR Committee 08/25/26 at 4:00 p.m.

Our Take

Credit to the City of Minot for at least putting its ALPR committee meeting on camera and on YouTube. That's more transparency than a lot of cities offer when they're deciding how license plate reader data gets collected, stored, shared, and audited. But a recording of a meeting isn't the same as public engagement — it only matters if residents actually watch it, show up, and ask hard questions about retention periods, vendor contracts, and who else gets access to the data besides local police.

This is exactly the kind of meeting that tends to fly under the radar. City councils and ad hoc committees across the country are quietly expanding ALPR networks one agenda item at a time, often with little pushback because most residents never learn these meetings are happening until the cameras are already bolted to the poles. Minot putting this one in front of a camera is a small win for accountability, but it only counts if the public uses it.

If you want to know whether Flock or other ALPR systems are already watching your streets, check our camera map, and if you want to push back on a local deployment, our take-action page has concrete steps for showing up at meetings just like this one.