The Eden Prairie Police Department will not proactively share automated license plate reader (ALPR) data with any entity, including federal agencies, according to a report from Eden Prairie Local News published on September 4, 2026. Data will only be shared if a criminal case number and justification for its need are provided. This policy applies to agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security.
Eden Prairie Police Chief Matt Sackett stated the department uses Motorola ALPR cameras, not Flock Safety cameras, because Motorola allows individual agencies to control data sharing. Some local businesses, however, do use Flock cameras.
What does this mean for drivers in Eden Prairie?
If you drive in Eden Prairie, your license plate may be scanned by police ALPRs. The police department maintains that this data is not freely accessible to other agencies. Instead, specific conditions must be met for any data to be shared:
- A criminal case number is required.
- Justification for why the data is needed must be provided.
- The investigation must be criminal, not civil, such as a civil immigration matter.
Data collected by the Eden Prairie Police Department's ALPRs is retained for 60 days. After this period, it is deleted unless it is part of an ongoing criminal investigation. The department also stated that its cameras do not use facial recognition software. You can learn more about how ALPRs work and what data they collect on our /learn page.
Where are these cameras located, and what are they used for?
The Eden Prairie Police Department has ALPRs installed in various locations around the city and on police vehicles. The department does not publicly disclose specific camera locations, citing concerns about vandalism. Several cameras in Eden Prairie have been damaged, according to Chief Sackett.
The police use ALPRs to:
- Identify stolen vehicles.
- Locate missing or endangered people.
- Find individuals wanted for serious crimes.
When a license plate matches an entry in their database, dispatch staff are alerted. They then verify the information before any action is taken. From August 2023 through August 2026, ALPRs reportedly helped the department recover 68 stolen vehicles, make 35 arrests, and locate five missing people.
The department plans to update its website with more information about ALPRs in the coming weeks. If you have questions about specific camera locations or local policies, you can always check our /map for publicly reported camera sites or contact the Eden Prairie Police Department directly for their official policies.
Mayor Ron Case supports the department's approach, emphasizing that data cannot be shared without proper justification and that the city would reevaluate ALPR use if there were evidence of data misuse. As of the report, no such misuse has been observed by the city council.