The briefing began with an overview from Deputy Chief Dale Plessas, who explained how the Axon Fleet 3 system will be deployed in accordance with the policy recently approved by the Minot City Council.

“It’s our hope this committee will be evaluating the policy, and there will be recommendations for changes,” Plessas said.

Fleet 3 is an in-vehicle recording system which captures video and license plate reads from patrol vehicles. Plessas allayed some common misconceptions about the system, stressing it does not include facial recognition, real-time tracking or biometric surveillance.

Rather, Fleet 3 will scan license plates which pass in front of a patrol vehicle’s camera, which are then compared to a “hotlist” of existing license plates connected to active incidents or investigations. Plessas stressed that if a license plate is not on a hotlist, no alert is circulated to officers. Officers who receive a hotlist match must verify the match is accurate before taking action.

CHARLES CRANE/MDN City Councilman Mike Blessum comments during a meeting of the Automated License Plate Reader committee on Wednesday, March 4.

Plessas said the only crimes tracked on the hotlist are felony level crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, stalking, and narcotics or certain serious crimes or incidents, such as a missing person or a silver alert.

The specific data collected by Fleet 3 is set to be retained for only 10 days unless it has been connected with an active case. The data includes an image of the license plate; a wider image of the vehicle for context; metadata such as plate number, the date, time and location the scan occurred; and inferred vehicle details identifying the make, color and type of the vehicle in question.

Plessas also clarified the system would not be collecting names of individuals, conduct registration or DMV lookups, and have no linkage to outside databases, as dictated by the city’s policy. Plessas maintained the data collected is kept in the MPD’s secure environment and confirmed it can only be shared with other agencies on a case by case basis. Axon also will not be able to access or distribute the collected data independently.

Plessas explained the system can be accessed only by authorized users, with historical searches requiring a reason and approval by either the chief or deputy chief.

Plessas did address a question regarding whether the collected data is a public record accessible through open records requests, saying after researching the issue and consulting other agencies, he believes a provision of the North Dakota Century Code creates an exception for all criminal intelligence or criminal investigative information or data from public records release.

“It’s our interpretation because of the way we use the system. Any data we collect per our policy cannot be used without a case. It’s all case information. We can’t access it without a criminal case. Under that provision, that’s how we view it,” Plessas said. “We all are consistent with how we view this data. This is all criminal information, so there are restrictions on it.”

Council and committee member Mike Blessum questioned that determination, comparing the plate system to someone walking down the street and writing down plate numbers when the vast majority of the plates scanned won’t be linked to a criminal case.

“To me, these two pieces of data are two very different things. One of them is not part of the investigative process, and we’ve been told very clearly it’s not,” Blessum said. “My contention is that those two things can’t exist at the same time. If we’re holding data only because we might need it, that’s a clear Fourth Amendment violation.”

City Attorney Stefanie Stalheim told the committee she would raise the question with the open records portfolio holder at the Attorney General’s Office to see if the department’s interpretation is on the right track. Stalheim said it was prudent to bring possible issues to the forefront now given how quickly technology is moving.

“The whole reason we’re gathering all of it is so we can run that query should a question arise, and it will only arise in the criminal context. If somebody from the public does request LPR data concerning a license plate number, our response would be, ‘That is currently criminal investigative information and exempted,’ because we could use it in a criminal case in 10 days,” Stalheim said. “The difference, I think, is who is doing the recording.”

Stalheim told the committee she wasn’t seeking an actual opinion from the Attorney General on the open records issue, as changes could come sooner on the legislative side.

“I have 25 years of law enforcement experience. The Fourth Amendment is one of the guiding principles by which I work. I definitely don’t want to violate the Fourth Amendment, but I will also suggest I don’t believe I am,” Plessas said. “In terms of where we’re going, we definitely don’t want to befall that.”

Plessas also informed the committee the collected data that will be provided to the committee will be limited to specific case data. The determination was made by North Dakota Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) administrator Jim Crow, but Plessas said the Fleet 3 system does have the option for a transparency portal to allow for auditing.

Capt. Justin Sundheim provided the committee with a walkthrough of the Fleet 3 system, the process for how officers will access and retrieve data from it, and how various parameters can be tweaked in the future.

After a lengthy review of the system, Blessum opined the committee won’t have any visibility to see if the system is being used in accordance with city policy. He said it may be something he’d have to address as council member.

“If we’re trading privacy for security, I really want to see success. We’ve nabbed some really bad guys because we turned this thing on and traded some freedoms. We’re making a decision to give something up to get something, and I think the public deserves to know what they’re getting,” Blessum said. “I want oversight, to see and be assured that the policy we’ve established is being followed and we can make adjustments to it. What can this committee do to work with you to do that, because we’re not going to have the data. So, how can we function?”

Minot Police Chief Michael Frye responded he is working with Stahlheim on a solution to give a city council member “a look behind the curtain,” and would follow up after further discussions with CJIS. Ultimately, Frye and Blessum agreed both the department and committee will have to see the results of the system once online and in use to determine if any changes are required.

“We’ve got to get there. We’ve got to turn it on. We have to figure out this is going to be an ebb and flow. Nothing is going to be perfect about this. We’re going to report back. We’re going to be transparent,” Frye said. “There’s ways for us to get to what you’re talking about. I’d love to tout our success stories. That’s what we’re trying to get to. All of us are going to be making adjustments through this process, but we’re going to get there.”

Sundheim said some of the data proposed by the committee could eventually be made available through the transparency portal or through reports generated by the department in the future.