A petition to regulate automated license plate reader use has garnered over 1,800 signatures from Hoosiers statewide since November. 
  
The petition, created by nonpartisan nonprofit Eyes Off Indiana, calls for the state to limit how long law enforcement can store ALPR data, ban commercial selling of data and introduce oversight for its use. 
 
Automated license plate reader systems capture pictures of passing vehicles and compare their license plate information against law enforcement databases, aiding law enforcement during investigations, according to the United States Department of Homeland Security.  
 
Columbus resident Zachary Albers, who signed the petition, said he believes ALPR cameras can be used for AMBER alerts or catching criminals, but its use without regulation becomes a “slippery slope.” 
  
“Is it audited, is all this information safe and secure?” he said. “I mean, it just all depends on is the individual protected or not.” 
  
Executive Director of Eyes off Indiana Walker Lasbury said Indiana has not passed regulations on ALPR usage, leaving local police departments to come up with their own policies and Hoosiers vulnerable to misuse.
  
“Essentially you're giving officers in Indiana a black box that shows exactly where everyone is currently and where they've ever been,” Lasbury said. 
  
Another signer, Columbus resident Scott Gant, said he is concerned about the possibility of data being harvested and drivers’ patterns being tracked from license plate readers and similar surveillance technology. 
  
“The government hasn’t done anything to protect us,” he said. 
   
Lasbury said the densest concentration of signatures has been in the Bloomington area, including Indiana University students. 
 
The City of Bloomington did not renew its contract with Flock Safety, a public safety technology company known for its ALPR cameras, after protests about data potentially being used to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Flock Safety license plate reader technology is used by over 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the U.S.
   
The Bloomington Police Department declined an interview, but BPD Chief Mike Diekhoff has defended ALPR as a crime-solving tool in the past.  
   
Eyes Off Indiana’s mission is to find a middle ground between completely embracing ALPR use and getting rid of it entirely, Lasbury said, and more signatures could potentially sway legislators who may weigh the issue in the next legislative session. 
  
“It shows the appetite for change from Hoosiers in their own districts,” he said.