College Station city council agrees to discuss the future of using cameras that read license plates

This podcast contains comments from the April 23, 2026 College Station city council meeting.The College Station city council agrees to pursue the second year of grant money to renew the contract with the provider of license plate reading cameras at various locations around the city.Click HERE to read and download background information about the grant application that was approved at the April 23, 2026 College Station city council meeting.The unanimous vote at the council's April 23rd meeting followed the council hearing from opponents. And after the vote, a council majority agreed to hold a future workshop discussion to consider what councilwoman Melissa McIlhaney described was a "risk benefit analysis" of using cameras in the future.Opponents say the cameras violate their constitutional privacy rights that they have in public places. City attorney Adam Falco said "It's pretty well established that license plates is something that a reasonable person doesn't have an expectation of privacy to because you're out in a public roadway and it's been pretty long held that license plate information, what it says, is not confidential."Police chief Billy Couch who promoted the benefits of license plate reading cameras in solving crimes. Couch also explained CSPD's protocol for using the cameras and who has access to the data.College Station mayor John Nichols made multiple references during the discussion to an e-mail that council members received from the city attorney about license plate reading cameras. When WTAW News asked for a copy of the e-mail, a city spokesman says the e-mail will not be made public, citing attorney client privilege.