Pueblo, Colorado, has 93 license plate reader cameras operated by public and private entities, giving it the fourth-highest number of ALPR systems among the 45 Colorado cities tracked by FindingFlock.com. This density translates to about 1.6 systems per square mile, representing 3.4% of documented cameras in Colorado. The Pueblo Chieftain reported on October 7, 2026, that the Pueblo City Council has been discussing these systems.
During an October 5 work session, Pueblo Police Chief Chris Noeller presented the department's ALPR policy. He highlighted the systems' role in crime detection and locating stolen vehicles, fugitives, and missing persons. Noeller also stated that ALPRs complement other surveillance tools like ShotSpotter, cameras, and Drone as First Responder (DFR) systems, increasing efficiency and the likelihood of successful cases.
What can Pueblo police use ALPRs for?
Pueblo Police Department (PPD) Directive 26-2 outlines specific authorized uses for ALPR cameras:
- Identifying or locating stolen vehicles, wanted vehicles, or those with fraudulently displayed plates.
- Locating individuals who are missing, abducted, endangered, or at-risk.
- Addressing documented threats.
- Supporting authorized investigations.
- Responding to lawful process.
- Evidence preservation.
- Record processing.
- System audits.
- Approved training and testing.
Any changes to these authorized uses require approval from the mayor. Drivers should be aware that their license plate data could be captured and used for these purposes. You can check the approximate locations of these and other cameras on our /map.
What ALPR uses are prohibited in Pueblo?
The PPD's directive also clearly prohibits several uses, aiming to prevent misuse and protect privacy:
- Personal or third-party interest: Officers cannot search plates for personal reasons, curiosity, entertainment, or on behalf of friends, family, private employers, businesses, landlords, or other unauthorized individuals.
- Protected status or activity: ALPR systems cannot be used to identify, monitor, or list individuals based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, political viewpoint, journalism, or other protected statuses or activities.
- Civil immigration enforcement: Use for federal immigration enforcement is only allowed with federal or state authorization, or a court-issued subpoena, warrant, or order.
- Generalized monitoring: "Generalized, speculative, open-ended" searches of an individual's travel, vehicle association, and patterns are forbidden unless there is a documented public safety or criminal purpose.
- Credential or data misuse: Sharing or copying ALPR data to unauthorized recipients, including personal devices, unapproved messaging platforms, or other media, is prohibited.
- Unapproved capabilities: Activating new capabilities like audio collection, automated association analysis, expanded vehicle profiling, facial recognition, model training, personal identification, predictive scoring, secondary data use, or new integrations requires written approval from the Chief of Police or a designee.
These prohibitions are intended to set clear boundaries for the use of ALPR technology in Pueblo.