Examining Police Officers’ Perceptions of Automated License Plate Readers Before Technology Expansion

• Published date: 01 February 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/08874034231220627
• Author: John A. Shjarback
• Date: 01 February 2024

https://doi.org/10.1177/08874034231220627

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2024, Vol. 35(1) 3 –21

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/08874034231220627

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Article

Examining Police Officers’

Perceptions of Automated

License Plate Readers Before

Technology Expansion

John A. Shjarback1

Abstract

Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are one of the most recent technological

advancements that have rapidly diffused across U.S. law enforcement. A majority of

the large police agencies utilize APRs, yet little empirical and evaluative research has

been conducted on this technology. This study seeks to (a) synthesize what is known

about ALPRs and (b) examine police officers’ perceptions of ALPRs before a major

expansion of the technology in a single agency in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United

States. Using an officer survey of 110 respondents, results found that those with

prior experience using the technology, younger and more inexperienced officers, and

those with stronger guardian orientations possessed more positive perceptions of

the ALPR expansion. Prior experience using ALPRs also served as a protective factor

by being associated with lower levels of skepticism toward the technology expansion;

those officers with stronger warrior orientations had higher levels of skepticism.

Practical considerations and directions for future research are discussed.

Keywords

police, technology, ALPRs, perceptions

Innovations in technology have always shaped how the law enforcement profession

operates. From the automobile, telephone, and the two-way radio to geographic infor-

mation system mapping, the use of CompStat, conducted energy devices, and officer

body-worn cameras (BWCs), each has drastically altered tactics and strategies to

1Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, USA

Corresponding Author:

John A. Shjarback, Department of Law and Justice Studies, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road,

Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA.

Email: shjarback@rowan.edu

1220627CJPXXX10.1177/08874034231220627Criminal Justice Policy ReviewShjarback

research-article2023

4 Criminal Justice Policy Review 35(1)

address crime, aimed to improve officer safety, and/or increase police accountability.

One technological advancement from the last 20 years includes the use of automated

license plate readers (ALPRs). ALPRs scan the alphanumeric license plates on moving

or parked vehicles and compares them to existing databases, such as lists of stolen cars

or registered owners who have open warrants (see Lum et al., 2010). Once a match is

made, the technology alerts users who can subsequently perform a traffic stop on the

vehicle in question. ALPRs essentially automate and speed up a process that was done

manually by officers in the past. The use of ALPRs has rapidly diffused since their

inception in the early 2000s.1 More than one-third of all police agencies with 100+

sworn officers in the United States reported using the technology in some capacity in

2009 (Lum et al., 2010). By 2016, 68% of municipal law enforcement agencies with

100 or more sworn officers had acquired ALPRs (Law Enforcement Management and

Administrative Statistics [LEMAS], 2016).

The problem, however, is that the empirical research on ALPRs has not kept pace

with their diffusion. There have been comparatively few rigorous evaluations of the

technology’s effectiveness in reducing crime (e.g., Lum et al., 2011; Taylor et al.,

2012) and community members’ perceptions of ALPRs (Merola et al., 2014, 2019).

Little is known about how officers view ALPRs and whether the technology assists

them in their various job duties, specifically responding to crime and enhancing pub-

lic safety. In fact, it is unclear whether there are any published studies that have

assessed officers’ perceptions of the technology on a large scale (see Willis et al.,

2018 for an exception). Officers’ views toward new technology, and any changes

within agencies more broadly, have implications for their perceptions of organiza-

tional justice (i.e., evaluations of fairness in processes, outcomes, and treatment by

supervisors/leaders and the agency more broadly; Wolfe & Lawson, 2020)—particu-

larly among rank-and-file members if the new technology and changes are viewed as

being instituted in a top-down manner from police executives (Bayley, 2008). Their

attitudes toward ALPRs may influence buy-in and the perceived benefits of the tech-

nology. These gaps in the literature are glaring when considering the expensive costs

and maintenance of the technology as well as privacy concerns among citizens and

activist groups (American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], 2013; California State

Auditor, 2020).

As such, the purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to take stock in what is known

about ALPRs including how, specifically, they are employed (e.g., mounted on vehi-

cles versus fixed on stationary objects) in the United States and (b) to examine police

officers’ perceptions of ALPRs before a major expansion of the technology in a single

agency. Again, how officers perceive ALPRs—either in a positive light or with skepti-

cism and cynicism—may ultimately affect compliance with ALPR directives/depart-

mental policies, proper implementation, and the overall success of the technology and

its capabilities. At the time of the study, the department surveyed used a handful of

mobile ALPRs mounted on vehicles with an upcoming project to extend the technol-

ogy to include fixed/stationary cameras on entrances/exits in and out of the research

site’s jurisdiction. It provided a unique perspective of a department with limited expe-

rience before a major upgrade in ALPR capacity.