ARTICLE 22
AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE READER CONFIGURATION BY-LAW
Special Town Meeting, Tuesday, October 6, 2026
Proposed amendments to Article 22 for the October 6, 2026 Special Town Meeting. Clean text incorporating the proposed amendments and corrections restoring the petition text as filed.
To see if the Town will vote to amend the General By-laws of the Town of Tewksbury by adding thereto a new chapter, entitled “Automatic License Plate Reader Configuration,” as follows:
SECTION 1. TITLE AND PURPOSE
1.1 This by-law may be cited as the Town of Tewksbury Automatic License Plate Reader Configuration By-law.
1.2 The purpose of this by-law is to permit the Town to receive the public-safety benefit of automatic license plate reader alerts (identifying stolen vehicles and vehicles associated with wanted or missing persons) while prohibiting the recording of the movements of persons who are suspected of nothing. It does so by restricting automatic license plate reader systems to a single configuration: compare each capture against lists of specifically identified vehicles, act on matches, and immediately discard everything else.
SECTION 2. DEFINITIONS
2.1 “Automatic license plate reader system” means any device, system, or software, wherever located, that captures images of vehicles or number plates and converts the number plates shown in those images into computer-readable or searchable data, or derives from those images vehicle appearance or attribute data for use in identifying, matching, or searching for particular vehicles, and any software that performs such conversion or derivation on images however captured. A system that records images or video of vehicles but does not perform such conversion or derivation is not an automatic license plate reader system unless and until it is used or configured to do so. Use of software by a person to read a number plate shown in a specific image obtained in the investigation of a particular incident does not constitute operation of an automatic license plate reader system.
2.2 “Capture” means any image, recording, or signal produced by an automatic license plate reader system, and any data derived from it, including plate characters, vehicle appearance or attribute data, and location and time data.
2.3 “Hot list” means a list of specifically identified number plates or vehicles, each entered on an individualized, documented predicate, including a report that a vehicle is stolen; association with a person who is the subject of an outstanding warrant, or who is missing or endangered; or entry by an officer upon a documented determination that the plate or vehicle is relevant and material to a particular criminal investigation.
SECTION 3. PERMITTED CONFIGURATION
3.1 No automatic license plate reader system shall be operated by the Town, or at the direction of the Town, or under any agreement with the Town, except in a configuration in which:
(a) each capture is compared against one or more hot lists, and is used for no other purpose;
(b) a capture that does not match a hot list entry is discarded immediately, and in any event not more than three minutes after capture, in such a manner that it is destroyed and not recoverable, and no non-matching capture is recorded, retained, transmitted, analyzed, or made accessible to any person or any system not controlled by the Town; and
(c) a capture that matches a hot list entry, together with its alert record, may be retained solely in connection with the predicate for the hot list entry and any related ongoing investigation, and no longer than final disposition of the matter giving rise to that predicate, provided that data retained as part of an ongoing investigation shall be made available to a criminal defendant, subject to applicable discovery and preservation rules.
3.2 The Town shall not use or deploy any automatic license plate reader system that is designed or intended to routinely photograph or collect more than license plates, or to engage in object detection, scene understanding, face recognition, or other forms of video analytics beyond optical character recognition of license plate characters and recognition of the issuing jurisdiction. No such system shall capture audio.
3.3 Hot lists shall be kept current, with entries removed when their predicate lapses. The Town shall determine which hot lists are compared against captures, and each such list shall be managed and overseen by the Town. The Town shall not compare captures against any list originating with an entity other than the Town unless the Town has determined in writing that entries on the list are governed by criteria consistent with Section 2.3, and shall discontinue the comparison if the list ceases to meet that standard. The Town shall maintain a record of each hot list in use, its source, any written determination made under this section, and the dates the list was adopted and discontinued; the record shall be available for audit under Section 6.
3.4 School exclusion. Notwithstanding any other provision of this by-law, this by-law shall not apply to the Tewksbury School Committee, the Tewksbury Public Schools, or persons acting for or on behalf of either in their school capacities.
SECTION 4. DATA SHARING
4.1 No capture, alert record, or data derived from either shall be shared with, disclosed to, or made accessible to any agency, entity, or person other than the Town through any standing, automatic, reciprocal, or network-wide arrangement, and no such data shall be enrolled in any multi-jurisdiction, regional, or national search or sharing network, whether by default, by vendor configuration, or by agreement.
4.2 Data described in Section 4.1 may be shared with a law enforcement agency other than the Town only where: (a) the agency has submitted a written request to the Town, before receiving any access, identifying the data sought and the purpose of the request; (b) personnel of the Town have individually reviewed the request; and (c) the Town has determined that the sharing is in the interest of the Town and that the request and the sharing are consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth, including G.L. c. 12, § 11I½. Access shall not be granted by any automated process. Each request, determination, and disclosure shall be recorded and available for audit under Section 6.
4.3 Nothing in this section limits disclosure pursuant to legal process served on the Town, the provision of data to a prosecuting authority in connection with the matter giving rise to the predicate for a hot list entry matched, or any disclosure required by law.
SECTION 5. ALERTS
5.1 A match alone shall not constitute grounds to stop a vehicle. Before acting on an alert, an officer shall visually confirm that the plate on the vehicle matches the capture, and shall confirm that the entry remains current on the hot list.
SECTION 6. RECORDS
6.1 Records of matches, alerts, and any access to retained captures shall be logged, individually attributed, and available for audit.
SECTION 7. ENFORCEMENT
7.1 Data collected or retained in violation of this by-law shall be considered unlawfully obtained and shall be deleted upon discovery, subject to applicable law. No data collected or retained in violation of this by-law, and no evidence derived therefrom, may be received in evidence in any Town proceeding. For purposes of this section, “Town proceeding” means any hearing, adjudication, or disciplinary proceeding conducted by the Town, and does not include any proceeding in a court of the Commonwealth or of the United States. Nothing in this section bars receipt of such data in a proceeding to establish or remedy a violation of this by-law. Any violation of this by-law constitutes an injury, and any person may institute proceedings for injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or an action in the nature of mandamus in any court of competent jurisdiction to enforce this by-law. Violations of this by-law by a Town employee shall result in consequences that may include retraining, suspension, or termination, subject to due process requirements and provisions of collective bargaining agreements.
7.2 Nothing in this by-law shall be construed to limit any individual's rights under state or federal law, to authorize anything state or federal law prohibits, or to prohibit anything state or federal law requires.
SECTION 8. SEVERABILITY
8.1 If any provision of this by-law, or its application to any person or circumstance, is declared invalid or unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction or by the Office of the Attorney General, the remaining provisions, and their application to other persons or circumstances, continue in full force and effect.
SECTION 9. EFFECTIVE DATE AND EXISTING SYSTEMS
9.1 This by-law takes effect as provided by G.L. c. 40, § 32. Within ninety days of the effective date, every automatic license plate reader system operated by the Town, at the direction of the Town, or under any agreement with the Town shall conform to Section 3, or its operation shall cease. Nothing in this by-law requires the Town to breach an agreement in force on the effective date; where such an agreement does not permit conformance, the Town shall exit the agreement to the extent permitted by law and shall not renew it.
; or to take any other action relative thereto.