Image Credit: Mt. Juliet Newsroom
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Following recent Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE) operations in Nashville and nearby counties, the use of License Plate Readers (LPRs) is even more unlikely to be approved by the Metro Council in what has become a long, drawn out process spanning several years.
After one council member, David Benton, spoke during the Memorial Day press conference organized by Congressman Andy Ogles (TN-5), the council’s Immigrant Caucus called for Benton’s resignation saying he was unfit to represent the Antioch community.
During his remarks, Benton accused Nashville leadership of supporting both the invasion of illegal aliens and criminals and referred to Mayor Freddie O’Connell’s reluctance to implement LPRs in Nashville, already approved by a previous Nashville mayor, over concerns about immigration enforcement.
“It’s time to choose,” said Benton. “It’s criminals or the innocent taxpayers.”
Three years ago, the Metro City Council voted almost unanimously to prevent LPR data from being used to enforce immigration laws in a six-month LPR pilot program. The council committed to the pilot after debating the proposal for more than a year.
State leaders including Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton criticized the council’s decision saying that Metro “doesn’t get to decide which state or federal laws they enforce.”
During the pilot program, LPRs captured images of license plates as they passed. The images captured were only kept for 10 days and then deleted. Law enforcement was only allowed to access the data if there was a reasonable suspicion that a crime had been committed.
Metro Police Chief John Drake has spoken in favor of LPRs repeatedly. The pilot program yielded over a hundred felony arrests.
LPRs, cameras which are installed on public rights of way, automatically capture pictures of license plates and match them to those on a list of stolen vehicles. The data is also cross referenced for vehicles flagged for potential connections to violent crime, felony offenses, reckless driving or missing persons.
While O’Connell began the process of countywide implementation of LPRs since taking office, the council has yet to approve a vendor contract.
In April, O’Connell announced that Metro was backing off previous approval for a contract for an alternative to LPRs which would have given the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) a way to access private surveillance footage more easily.
The contract with Fusus would have given MNPD quick access to footage from privately owned security cameras owned by private businesses agreeing to participate.
Immigration activists and members of the council opposed the contract saying it would target immigrants.
Most of Nashville’s bordering cities already operate LPR programs
Nearby Mt. Juliet in Wilson County implemented a LPR program in 2020 called Guardian Shield – currently 42 locations at intersections of main roads, Interstate 40 and county lines – which has been successful in recovering hundreds of stolen cars, the majority of which were associated with Nashville residents and stolen from Nashville.
Deputy Chief Tyler Chandler told The Tennessee Conservative that the majority of suspects come from outside of Mt. Juliet.
Due to no current LPR program in Nashville, Mt. Juliet and other cities shoulder a heavier burden as they end up apprehending suspects from Nashville more often over local suspects. Chandler says that Nashville setting up its own LPR system would reduce the load on Mt. Juliet law enforcement as suspects could potentially be apprehended before crossing over into Wilson County.
Nashville LPRs would also lead to more effective collaboration between cities, not only in faster and more coordinated responses in real time as crimes occur, but also in sharing data for investigating serious crimes.
Mt. Juliet’s Guardian Shield system is not used for anything related to traffic enforcement, but instead shields the community from vehicles on a hotlist or to investigate serious crimes which include criminal homicide, forcible rape, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, dangerous drug offenses or wanted persons.
While the technology records video and images of the vehicle, it does not know who is driving or may be in the car, and does not access any license plate database to access personal data or determine who owns the vehicle. Any video or images are discarded after 30 days.
Along with Nashville’s woke leadership that supports funneling taxpayer money to aid illegal aliens, some Nashville residents are keeping tabs on law enforcement in order to warn immigrants of ICE operations or document arrests.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
