LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Louisville Metro Councilman J.P. Lyninger is sponsoring an ordinance that would require all pole-mounted automatic license plate reader cameras owned or leased by Louisville Metro Government to be listed in a searchable public database.
Lyninger said other cities, including Lexington, already make similar information publicly available and argued that Louisville residents should have the same access.
“We haven’t seen the sky falling over in Lexington, so we thought people in Louisville deserved to know this, too,” Lyninger said.
He added that residents have a fundamental right to know when government surveillance technology is in use.
“I think that it’s a pretty basic right, that if you’re being surveilled by the government, you should know about that, if they don’t have some sort of warrant for an active investigation,” Lyninger said.
Louisville Metro Police said the camera system helps link license plates to crimes and serves both investigative and public safety purposes. Officials noted that the technology was recently used to help locate a missing woman with dementia.
Deputy Chief Emily McKinley said the department has offered to work with council members to show camera locations within their districts but strongly opposes making those locations publicly accessible.
“We don’t want to provide a road map for criminals who are planning violent attacks in our city, who are planning violent crimes or planning homicides, who are planning car break-ins, and how to get away and evade detection,” McKinley said.
Lyninger pushed back on that concern, arguing that transparency remains essential.
“I also don’t think it’s very credible that we’ve got a lot of criminal masterminds in the city of Louisville that are going to go and look up the ALPR locations and plan where they plan to do crime,” Lyninger said.
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