NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nashville’s discussion about implementing license plate recognition (LPR) technology across the city has been ongoing. One Metro Councilmember has encouraged area businesses and private property owners to install their own LPR technology.
Metro Council approved the permanent expansion of license plate reader cameras in August 2023. However, LPR cameras and signs were turned off and taken down following the six-month pilot program and would stay down unless Metro Council approves a contract. However, Metro Councilmember for District 32, Joy Styles, has taken charge.
“What I wanted to do is figure out: what can we do as a community?” Styles said.
Styles said she is not waiting for the program to launch citywide; instead, she has pushed for members of her district, which is in Antioch, to get a head start.
“My desire is to get [LPR technology to] our local businesses, HOAs, and apartment complexes,” Styles explained. “What that means for us is you can still take footage and give it to MNPD [the Metro Nashville Police Department].”
LPR cameras scan license plates and compare them to state and federal databases to help locate stolen vehicles and missing and wanted people.
“They don’t do speed enforcement. They do not do traffic enforcement. They don’t do facial recognition,” Alex Guth, the territory sales manager for Flock Safety, said. “It takes a photo of the license plate, and it deletes it after 30 days.”
Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell said the LPR debate could move forward once another surveillance camera program, called Fusus, passes in Metro Council.
“[Metro Council] will reconsider the Fusus program,” O’Connell previously said. “Once that’s done, we will continue to have both conversations with the community, with the police department and with council members.”
O’Connell added that LPRs are on track for this year’s legislative calendar.
LPR cameras have been successfully implemented in counties surrounding Davidson. In one instance Sunday, a 1-year-old baby was killed in a Murfreesboro shooting and the shooter fled. However, the license plate was flagged by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office’s Flock camera system.
“We were able to get justice for that mother,” Guth said.
Styles told News 2 some area businesses and apartment complexes have already signed up for the service. She hopes more will make the same decision.
“I believe that if we commit to that in our area, we will see a decrease in crime,” Styles said.
