About automated license plate readers (ALPRs)

Automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology allows for the automated detection of license plates. It’s used by the St. Louis Park Police Department to gather license plate numbers for official law enforcement purposes, such as identifying stolen or wanted vehicles, stolen license plates, and missing persons. It may also be used to gather information related to active warrants, electronic surveillance, suspect interdiction and stolen property recovery. Learn more about the St. Louis Park Police Department use of ALPRs at the police department's transparency portal.

How ALPRs work

ALPRs are installed in public locations to collect the rear license plate of a vehicle. When a vehicle passes, the ALPR takes a picture of the rear of the vehicle, logging the location of the camera, the date, and the time of the photo. The photo is uploaded to Amazon Web Services (AWS) GovCloud*, a compliant cloud solution for hosting sensitive and controlled data.

The photo is analyzed by the ALPR provider's software to determine the license plate in the photo and vehicle characteristics, including color and vehicle style (SUV, passenger car, etc.). The plate is then compared to a “hotlist” provided by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). The hotlist is sorted and has titles such as “Stolen Vehicle,” “Wanted Person” or other titles with lists of license plates. No other information is provided. If a plate matches one on the hotlist, it sends an alert to officers working with the plate and hotlist title. An officer who receives the alert then uses a department computer to run the plate for more information to determine if the alert requires a response and if the plate is correct. No other information is provided to the ALPR provider.

*AWS GovCloud is a specialized cloud computing environment designed to host government systems and sensitive government data while meeting strict security, regulatory and compliance requirements. Unlike a standard commercial cloud, a GovCloud environment provides additional controls for data protection, access management, auditing and regulatory compliance. Common systems housed on AWS GovCloud (or a similar product) include criminal justice information, case management, court records management and many health records systems.

How your privacy is protected

The St. Louis Park Police Department understands and respects the concerns raised about ALPRs and privacy audits committed to ensuring ALPR data is used only for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The following safeguards are in place:

• Each search on the system requires officers to state a legitimate law enforcement purpose and to list a case number or call for service number.
• Each search is logged and audited quarterly.
• The entire system is audited biannually by a third party to ensure compliance with state law.
• The St. Louis Park Police Department and the City of St. Louis Park don’t allow ALPR data to be used for immigration enforcement purposes.
• ALPR data collected by the St. Louis Park Police Department isn’t shared with any federal agencies or local agencies with Immigration Enforcement Agreements with ICE (287g agreements).

While ALPRs record every license plate that drives by and compares them to the hotlist, the system has no identifying information on the vehicle owner or driver. ALPRs don’t have facial recognition; they take photos of the rear of the vehicle to prevent photographs of the driver.

The photos and logs of plates are deleted after 30 days. The image of the vehicle is only maintained if it is evidence in a case for prosecution, and that photo and data are placed in the case file separate from the ALPR system.

Sharing data with other agencies

St. Louis Park owns all data collected by its ALPRs. The ALPR vendor doesn’t have the right to share St. Louis Park data. All requests for sharing are with the St. Louis Park Police Department.

Each agency the St. Louis Park Police Department shares with signs an agreement indicating they will only search data for law enforcement purposes and they will follow Minnesota state law regarding ALPR data. The St. Louis Park Police Department doesn’t enter into agreements with agencies outside of Minnesota, federal agencies, or any Minnesota agency with immigration enforcement agreements with ICE.

Some agencies have been unable or unwilling to sign a formal agreement protecting our city data. Those agencies DON’T have access to St. Louis Park data.

By default, external agencies can’t access or view St. Louis Park’s data. The St. Louis Park Police Department ALPR system administrators must explicitly set permissions to allow agencies with signed data usage agreements to access St. Louis Park data

To prevent St. Louis Park data from being used to enforce immigration enforcement-related activities, the St. Louis Park Police Department doesn’t share data with any agency that has signed a 287(g) or similar cooperation agreement with DHS, ICE or any DHS sub entities. This is because a 287(g) agreement may be interpreted as a lawful purpose in Minnesota to search for Immigration. Without this agreement with ICE, Minnesota police officers do not have authority to enforce immigration law.  St. Louis Park also uses a setting in the ALPR system to exclude searches for immigration. If a purpose code of Immigration is selected, the party searching will not receive any results from St. Louis Park.

User access monitoring

• All license plate searches by officers are permanently stored in an audit log identifying the agency and purpose for searching.
• The St. Louis Park Police Department internally audits searches quarterly internally to ensure policy compliance.
• After system settings changes are made in the system by an administrator, the system is checked daily to ensure system changes did not have any unintended consequences.
• The entire system is audited biannually by a third party to ensure compliance with state law. Review the police department’s most recent ALPR biannual audit summary by a third party.
• All images gathered by the ALPR are for the official use of the police department and aren’t open to public review. As prescribed by the Minnesota State Law (MN 13.824) all data subject to public review is located here.
• Unless needed for ongoing investigative purposes, all data collected is stored for only 30 days before being deleted. View the automated license plate reader policy.

Protecting your civil rights

Ongoing and repeated searching of suspect vehicles requires signed warrants. Tracking a vehicle in the system to gain information on the occupant requires a warrant as that occupant has an expectation of privacy in the vehicle. Stolen vehicles are an exception. If the vehicle is stolen, the occupant has no expectation of privacy. The intent in locating the vehicle is to hold the suspect accountable and return the vehicle to the owner, so it does not require a warrant.

Vendor information

Find more information below from the vendor currently providing ALPR services to the St. Louis Park Police Department.

• Myths vs. Facts
• Privacy and Trust
• Data Security
• Compliance Tools
• Customer Control and Ownership of Data

Neighborhood Watch is a voluntary program aimed at reducing your likelihood of becoming a crime victim. It works by teaching simple, yet proven crime prevention techniques and by building relationships between neighbors and the St. Louis Park Police Department.

Neighborhood Watch block captains help maintain the safety and well-being of their neighborhood by coordinating neighborhood watch activities for their block.

The St. Louis Park Police Department collaborates with Crime Stoppers of Minnesota to provide multiple ways to share and report crime tips. The nonprofit group is designed to serve as a separate and independent organization from law enforcement for the purpose of gathering information about crimes that may not otherwise be available to authorities but can help to solve crimes. These can be useful in preventing crime and addressing unsolved cases.

Crime Stoppers is:

• Free – there is no cost to share or report information
• Anonymous – will not ask for your name, and conversations are not recorded
• Confidential – does not record phone numbers, email addresses, IP addresses or other information
• Accessible – report information 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone, text message or online

Contact

For more information, including tip eligibility and rewards (up to $1,000 in some cases), visit Crime Stoppers of Minnesota or call 1.800.222.8477.

Help with unsolved St. Louis Park cases

Below are the unsolved cases of missing persons in St. Louis Park. If you have any information on these unsolved cases, you can submit a tip online through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s (BCA) website.

Judy Jurgens

• Age now: 60
• Missing since: Oct. 28, 1982
• Location: St Louis Park

Visit the BCA’s website for more details on Judy Jurgen’s missing person case.

Lauren Andersen

• Age now: 63
• Missing since: Nov. 15, 1981
• Location: St Louis Park

Visit the BCA’s website for more details on Lauren Andersen’s missing person case.

Catalytic converters are attractive targets for thieves due to their lack of identifying information and the difficulty in tracking them back to a specific vehicle. In addition, it only takes about 90 seconds for a catalytic converter to be stolen. Thieves then sell the stolen converters to a third party who in turn takes them out of state and mills them for precious metals.

Take these steps to avoid theft

Replacing a catalytic converter can be expensive. Take these steps to prevent theft of your catalytic converter:

• Park your vehicle inside a locked garage. If that’s not possible, park in a well-lit area and near building entrances or any other high-visibility area.
• Calibrate your vehicle alarm to sound when it detects vibration.
• If you see anything suspicious, call 911 right away. The faster you call, the more likely police officers are to catch the thieves.
• Consult with your auto repair facility about engraving your license plate number onto the casing of your vehicle’s catalytic converter. This may deter theft, and in the event the catalytic converter is stolen, it can be tracked back to the vehicle. Be aware of your vehicle’s warranty information before engraving. In St. Louis Park, the following repair shops provide this service:
  • D&D Auto, 8801 Minnetonka Blvd.
  • The Phoenix, 3715 Oregon Ave. S.
  • Automotive Service Co., 5708 W. 35th St.
• Purchase anti-theft equipment such as catalytic converter cages, clamps and/or cables. These devices are readily available online and can be installed to prevent theft.
• If you’re handy, marking a catalytic converter can be a do-it-yourself undertaking. All you need is high-temperature (1,200 – 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit) automotive exhaust paint or a quality handheld electric engraver that is suitable for etching metal, as well as a safe way to access the catalytic converter from under your vehicle.

Below are some crime prevention resources from the St. Louis Park Police Department. For additional information, contact the department at 952.924.2661.

Home safety and security

• Home security checklist
• Home security tips
• Preventing garage burglaries
• Questions to ask before buying a home security system

Personal safety and crime prevention

• After school safety
• Back to school safety
• Bike theft prevention
• Child safety
• Mail theft prevention
• Multifamily residential safety tips
• Personal safety
• Preventing identity theft
• Preventing theft from vehicles
• Social networking and internet safety
• Vehicle theft, carjacking prevention

Business crime prevention

• Preventing business burglaries
• Workplace safety and security
• Crime-free multi-housing (Minnesota Crime Prevention Association)
  • The program includes three phases:
    • Phase one — tenant screening, lease addendum, evictions and other topics (eight hours). The city’s rental license training will qualify for phase one training.
    • Phase two — Physical survey of the building to make sure it meets minimum security requirements such as deadbolt locks, 180-degree peep holes, interior and exterior lighting, and other items.
    • Phase three — Crime prevention meeting to show tenants security precautions they can take to protect themselves and their property.

The St. Louis Park Police Department wants residents to be aware of various scams that are designed to swindle money and/or personal information.

Common types of scams

Some of the common scams include:

• Arrest warrant scams
• Business email compromise scams
• Charity scams
• Elder/grandparent fraud scams
• Fake checks
• Imposer fraud
• IRS and government scams
• Lottery scams
• Phishing, spear phishing and email scams
• Romance scams

To learn more about the common scams and what each of them are, visit the consumer financial protection bureau’s website.

This is not an all-inclusive list of scams people fall victim too. Scams and the scammers tactics evolve daily. It is advised you independently verify an offer or request.

If you receive communication of threats; a concerning/emergent situation; promises of goods, prizes or monies; or asking for payment through one of the below methods, it’s a scam. Discontinue contact immediately with the individual.

Common payment methods used by scammers

Common payment methods used by scammers can include:

• Gift cards (most prevalent)
• Wire transfers
• Money orders
• Person-to-person payment services and/or mobile apps
• Cryptocurrency

Business scams

Scams can also be perpetrated by businesses when they offer various products and services. Here are some tips from the police department to avoid being the victim of a scam:

• Do your homework when hiring a contractor, auto repair shop or other service. Contact the Better Business Bureau for information and ask for references from the company or facility representative.
• Talk with family, friends and neighbors about who they recommend for your specific need. Past experience shows this is a good way to locate a reputable contractor and/or repair facility.
• Retain trusted contractor and/or repair facility information for future reference.
• Be aware of door-to-door solicitors and contractors/handymen selling their services. Some may be legit; others may not. Solicitors need to obtain a license to sell door-to-door in the city.
• If unsure about recommended work, get a second opinion from another contractor and/or repair facility. You have that right as a consumer.
• Read through contracts and have the person you are dealing with explain it thoroughly if you do not understand it before signing.
• Never give cash as a down payment or to pay for the completed work. Paying by check or credit card will give you a running record of payment. Be wary of companies who do not accept anything for payment but cash.
• Visit the MN State Attorney General’s Office website and the MN Department of Public Safety website for further information on lottery scams.
• Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

What to do if you are a victim of a scam

If you believe you were the victim of a scam, call the police department's non-emergency line at 952.924.2618.

Resources

Use the links below for more information and ways to protect yourself and others from becoming a victim of a scam.

• Federal Trade Commission Consumer Advice - Scams
• Do Yourself a Favor: Be Crime Smart (FBI)
• About AARP Fraud Watch Network
• Scams and fraud (USA.gov)