Mat-Su bans license plate readers before the borough owns any

Editors Note, Sept. 22th 12:09pm: This story was substantially updated after Alaska News reviewed the complete Sept. 15 Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting record. The revised version adds the Assembly's full discussion, the ordinance's adoption without objection and context on Anchorage's pending surveillance rules.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly adopted a preemptive ban on borough use of automated license plate readers without objection Sept. 15, taking a different path from Anchorage, which built its surveillance system first and is now arguing over what limits to put in code.

The Mat-Su ordinance prohibits borough departments, employees and contractors from acquiring, installing or operating automated license plate readers. It also bars the borough from accessing outside plate-reader networks or helping finance another agency's system.

Assembly member Michael Bowles sponsored the measure before the borough had identified any plate-reader program that it would shut down, and he described it as a barrier against what is happening in Anchorage.

"We are watching Anchorage pursue these things," Bowles said. "When I ran for office, I made it very clear that I was going to be a brick wall from any of this Anchorage stuff making its way out here, and this is what I'm doing."

He said he wanted the restriction in place before the borough gains policing powers, which he told the Assembly it is pursuing, and before he leaves office. He distinguished government monitoring of ordinary travel from cameras placed by private property owners.

The borough attorney told members that the ordinance reaches borough land, facilities, rights-of-way and contracts. It does not allow the borough to regulate cameras on state rights-of-way or private property. He also said it would not prohibit ordinary security cameras at borough buildings. Its target is systems capable of compiling sightings and continuously tracking people's movement.

Assembly member Dee McKee said cameras sometimes help catch people who commit serious crimes, then compared the technology to the fentanyl she was given for a broken leg: useful in some circumstances, she said, but harmful more often. She supported the prohibition.

Stephanie Nowers pointed to reporting on biometric tracking in Russia and China, and to what pairing cameras with artificial intelligence and facial recognition could allow. "You can catch some of the bad guys, but how much do you sacrifice?" she said. She added that the Assembly could revisit the policy if future systems were narrowly limited.

Bill Gamble said traveling in the Lower 48 this summer convinced him. "When I was in Atlanta or Portland, you'd see signs that say video surveillance conducted here, and then you just see cameras all over the place," he said, "and I want to make sure that we don't ever get to that spot in this borough."

After the discussion, Mayor Edna DeVries asked whether any Assembly member objected to adoption.

"Hearing no objection, then the ordinance becomes legislation," she said.

No roll-call tally was taken. The measure was adopted by unanimous consent among the members present.

The restriction applies to the borough government. It does not prohibit Alaska State Troopers, the cities of Palmer or Wasilla, federal agencies or private businesses from operating cameras under their own authority.

Anchorage weighs competing rules

Anchorage already has the technology. It built a Real-Time Crime Center and began testing automated license plate readers, and the limits that exist now are in police policy rather than in municipal code. What the Assembly is debating is whether any of them should be written into law.

It closed public testimony Sept. 15 but, as previously covered by Alaska News, postponed action on its surveillance ordinance until Oct. 20. Members are considering an original ordinance and two substitute versions that differ over data retention, outside information sharing, Assembly oversight and how much discretion should remain in police policy.

An Assembly work session is scheduled from 2:10 to 4:10 pm Friday, Sept. 25, in City Hall Conference Room 155. Members are expected to compare AO 2026-108 with the mayor's substitute and a second substitute from the original Assembly sponsors.

All three versions address automated plate readers, the Real-Time Crime Center and live camera monitoring. Their differences concern whether specific limits should be fixed in municipal code or governed through police policies subject to reporting and Assembly review. A fuller breakdown of the differences was covered by Alaska News on September 13.

The two local governments are therefore starting from opposite positions. Mat-Su prohibited borough participation before acquiring the technology. Anchorage is deciding after the fact what should govern systems it already operates.