Simplified: City and county leaders spoke at length Tuesday morning about how law enforcement is using automated license plate readers, e.g. Flock cameras, to solve crimes. Here's a closer look at how ALPRs are used in Sioux Falls, what they do and don't do, and how a new executive order from Mayor Christine Erickson aims to put strict guardrails in place to ensure the technology isn't misused.

Why it matters

  • The Sioux Falls Police Department first began using ALPRs last year after the City Council approved a $168,000 contract with Flock Safety. At that time there were 28 Flock cameras installed across the city.
  • From day one, police have had strict rules in place for how the cameras are used and who has access to the data collected. On Tuesday, Erickson announced an executive order to give "a little bit more teeth" to ensuring those guardrails are in place, and both Erickson and Police Chief Jon Thum alluded to work with state lawmakers to codify ALPR rules into law.
  • Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead joined Erickson and Thum Tuesday in defending the use of the ALPRs, calling them the "greatest crime-fighting tool" he's seen in his 50 years of public safety service.
  • Meanwhile, several Sioux Falls residents told City Council Tuesday evening they still want to see the city stop using ALPRs – citing concerns of surveillance, erosion of privacy, violation of Fourth Amendment rights and data security.
"It's an investigative tool," Milstead said of the cameras. "It's not some deep dark surveillance state that some of the people on social media are trying to sell this as ... This is such a valuable tool, we want to make sure there are good guardrails in place to make sure the system isn't abused."

Tell me more about how the cameras have been used

The cameras have led to 90 arrests, 42 recovered stolen vehicles and leads in about three dozen cases, according to data shared by Thum. For context, Sioux Falls Police responded to nearly 85,000 calls for service through August this year.

Here's essentially how it works:

  • The ALPRs take photos of the back license plates of passing vehicles, checks them against a national database of wanted criminals, as well as a local "hotlist."
  • The cameras identify the make, model, color, distinguishing features of car as well as the photo of the vehicle, license plate, date, time stamp, and location.
  • Data is owned by the Sioux Falls Police Department and deleted after 30 days. Data cannot be sold by Flock Safety.

Thum also addressed what he called "misinformation" among residents, citing the numerous things the city's ALPRs do not do.

  • The cameras do not track speed, parking violations, or collect any sort of biometric information.
  • They're not a red light camera, they're not connecting to bluetooth devices, and they're not running plates to determine the owner of the vehicle, Thum said.
"I think it's important we separate fact from fiction," Thum said.

In addition, when the cameras are used to solve crimes, any search of data has to be conducted by a detective or supervisor. Not all police officers have access to ALPR data, and the data can only be used for "official and legitimate law enforcement purposes," Thum said.

  • Usage of ALPRs in solving crimes is also subject to bi-weekly audits. Thum told Councilor Zak Okuwe Tuesday evening that he'd be open to a third-party audit, for example, if the state Department of Criminal Investigation wanted to assess how Sioux Falls police are using the license plate readers.

Minnehaha County State's Attorney Dan Haggar also spoke out in favor of the ALPRs, lauding law enforcement's transparency and the policies they've implemented around the technology.

What happens next?

It's likely restrictions on ALPRs will come up for discussion during the 2027 legislative session.

Thum told councilors he's even seen draft legislation that would essentially codify the regulations the Sioux Falls Police Department already has in place on how law enforcement can use the technology.

  • The first violation, Thum said, would be a misdemeanor, and the second would be a felony.
"You won't get a second offense in our agency," Thum said. "That's just not going to happen."