Twenty-one camera locations proposed around Davidson County as local debate fades.
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by Stephen Elliott, [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –
The Tennessee Highway Patrol has identified 21 locations in Davidson County where it could install its own license plate readers, according to documents obtained by the Banner.
The proposal comes as a debate over Metro installing its own camera system has slowed.
The THP cameras (marked in the following map) would be located along state routes, including Briley Parkway and interstates 440, 65, 40 and 24. Two would be located where I-24 meets Woodland Street and Main Street near Nissan Stadium.
One document, dated Oct. 31, was prepared in conjunction with LPR provider Motorola and submitted to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, which controls the relevant right-of-way. It details a statewide LPR program focused on the state’s borders and major cities including Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.
According to a TDOT spokesperson, no cameras have been installed on its property to date, and installation does not require approval by the local government. A THP spokesperson was not available for comment.
Debate over LPRs in Nashville has simmered for years. In 2017, the Metro Council instituted new policies regulating surveillance technology and banning the use of license plate readers. The legislation was sponsored by then-Councilmember Dave Rosenberg, who is now the director of legislative affairs to Mayor Freddie O’Connell. Five years later, a new council approved a six-month LPR pilot program, which ran in the first half of 2023. The council approved full implementation of LPRs that year.
O’Connell, then on the council, voted against full implementation, but as mayor, he started work with the Metro Nashville Police Department on the program. As of January, the mayor’s office was still expressing a commitment to bring an LPR contract to the Metro Council for approval. But by May, and after federal immigration raids in Nashville that month, local appetite was waning.
“It’s going to be very hard to propose something that [the council] would support right now,” O’Connell said in April.
Metro Councilmember Erin Evans, who chairs the public safety committee and has previously supported LPRs, said the state’s move was “disappointing but not surprising.”
“I would prefer that, if we’re going to have them, that we have that ability to manage them,” she said. “Whenever we have an issue [that] becomes a big deal in Davidson County, it’s always going to get the state’s attention.”
Critics have identified several potential issues with the surveillance technology. Wired reported earlier this year that a Motorola LPR system in Tennessee was leaking data online, and 404 Media confirmed in May that local police departments were using the data on behalf of federal immigration officials. Critics also cited results from the 2023 pilot period, when the system collected a reported 71 million scans of license plates, leading to the arrests of 112 people.
However, police officials and other boosters pointed to those same results as evidence of the program’s success, calling it “precision policing.” They have also highlighted locally instituted restrictions on the technology, including who it could be shared with, but critics are skeptical the local government could prevent the state or federal government from accessing sensitive information.
LPRs are already operational in Davidson County, including at private parking lots and in Belle Meade.
The Motorola proposal filed by THP notes that mobile LPR systems mounted on cars or trailers are also contemplated. A memo signed by THP leadership notes that users of the mobile systems will be required to have one hour of training. The proposal contemplates sharing the data with other law enforcement offices, with the system subject to regular audits.
According to the proposal, state-installed LPRs would be used to track cars in cases of stolen vehicles, missing persons, drug trafficking and cargo theft. The technology can “predict future locations,” according to the proposal, and “identify vehicles traveling with or parked near a target vehicle.” The system also includes “real-time video monitoring” capacities that allow agencies to “virtually patrol your community and quickly get eyes on the scene of an event by viewing cameras simultaneously.”
Republicans in the state legislature have closely monitored Metro’s LPR deliberations.
“If for some reason, cities do not take advantage of this life-saving technology, then we will probably reevaluate whether this is a local decision to be made there,” House Majority Leader William Lamberth said in 2023.
The THP did not respond to an inquiry about a timeline for the LPR program in Nashville. Documents obtained via TDOT suggest that the rollout is further along in Memphis and West Tennessee. A TDOT spokesperson said that the department is currently processing a request to install one LPR as a test in Shelby County for a period of three months to determine whether the installation and equipment is safe for motorists.
Additional records released by TDOT show that local jurisdictions, including Gallatin, Memphis and Knoxville, have been seeking state permission to install their LPRs on state right-of-way in recent months, under the terms of an April memo.
UPDATE, July 22, 9 a.m.: “The goal is to test how this technology could help law enforcement locate vehicles tied to serious cases,” Jason Pack, communications director at the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security, wrote in an email after publication of this story. He added that the plans included in the documents “are not final and were developed for discussion only. If future locations are considered, any installation likely would involve coordination with local agencies.”
