OKLAHOMA CITY – The oil and gas industry is expected to pay close attention to Senate Bill 857, which would allow automatic license plate readers or cameras to be used for more than just identifying vehicles that are not insured. For example: to detect criminal activity in the oil patc h.
The bill would allow automatic license plate reader systems (ALPRs) to be installed on hig hway rights-of-way “to the extent that such use is consistent with the continued use, operation, maintenance, and safety of the highway facility and does not interfere with the free and safe flow of traffic.”
SB 857, introduced by Sen. Darrell Weaver (R-Moore), has been assigned to the Pub lic Safety Committee in the Senate f or consideration during the First Regular Session of the 60th Okl ahoma Legislature, which started Monday.
An ALPR takes a photograph of the license plate on a vehicle and searches law enforcement databases to determine whether the vehicle has been stolen, involved in a crime, or reported as being driven by a missing or end angered individual or a person sought for a serious crime.
The energy industry contends ALPRs might help prevent or solve oilfield thefts.
Some energy companies in the Permian Basin have installed their own ALPRs to monitor vehicles entering their leases, which in West Texas are spread over long distances. Thefts of oilf ield equipment from Permian Basin sites in Texas and New Mexico have seen increases in the past several years. By installing their own ALPRs, the energy firms can assist law enforcement in tracking down the thieves.
Some in the energy industry believe the controlled use of ALPRs in Oklahoma would allow oil and gas companies to better coordinate with law enforcement on equipment thefts. But Weaver’s bill will likely face criticism and opposition because of questions raised about privacy concerns.
The issue of ALPRs and warrantless searches was the focus of a House of Representatives’ State Powers Committee hearing last October led by Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola).
“On the issue of automated license plate readers, our state laws are inadequate in keeping up with the fast pace of tec hnological advances being made,” Gann said. “Unfortunately, how those advances are used is without regard to due process. My desire is to have these concerns taken into consideration as we work with the Senate and other lawmakers to develop laws to govern the activity already taking place.”
Current state law allows ALPRs to legally be used only to identify uninsured motorists who are in violation of Oklahoma’s compulsory insurance law. Gann’s study found that many of the cameras across the state a re illegally placed and being used to tr ack a lot of other activity.
“These uses are not authorized by Oklahoma law,” Gann said. “We are for the rule of law, and that requires us to have law enforcement,” he said. “But nowhere in the Constitution does it require government to make you safe. The Constitution is a restriction on government to keep us free. Even though we all want to be safe, we have a duty first to ensure the laws that we make respect the rights granted by God and preserved by the U.S. and Oklahoma Constitutions.”
The Oklahoma Senate last year voted down a proposal to install license plate readers on highways.