Candidate Survey: Fixed-Point ALPR and Mass Surveillance

We asked every candidate for Talbot County Council five yes-or-no questions about fixed-point license plate readers and mass surveillance. Here are the questions, with candidate responses to follow.

I sent the following survey to every candidate for Talbot County Council on September 28, 2026.

It asks five questions about fixed-point automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. Each question requires a Yes or No answer first, followed by an opportunity for the candidate to explain their position in their own words.

The survey closes Monday, October 5. All responses will be published here on Friday, October 9. Candidates who do not respond by the deadline will be identified as “No response received.”

Every candidate received the same questions.

Definition

Before asking the questions, we defined what we mean by fixed-point ALPR.

When asking candidates to take a position on a particular technology, we should not assume that everyone starts with the same level of familiarity or uses the same terminology. Defining the technology upfront gives every candidate the same information and makes their answers more precise.

Maryland law itself defines an automatic license plate reader system to include both mobile and fixed cameras and defines the information collected by those systems as “captured plate data.”

Maryland Public Safety § 3-509

The following definition was provided to every candidate:

For purposes of these questions, fixed-point ALPR means a permanently or semi-permanently installed automated license plate reader that records license plates and associated information such as time, date, location, and vehicle images as vehicles pass, regardless of whether the driver or vehicle is suspected of a crime. Maryland law defines ALPR systems to include both fixed and mobile cameras and “captured plate data” to include plate numbers, photographs, dates, times, GPS coordinates, and other collected or derived data.

The Questions

1. County deployment

Would you vote to authorize Talbot County to purchase, install, lease, or operate fixed-point ALPR cameras that routinely collect information about vehicles whose owners or occupants are not suspected of a crime?

Yes / No. Please explain your answer.

2. Access to private networks

Should Talbot County government or the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office be permitted to access ALPR data collected by private businesses, homeowners associations, vendors, or other private organizations when there is no warrant, court order, or identified vehicle connected to a specific investigation?

Yes / No. Please explain your answer.

3. Historical tracking

Should law enforcement be permitted to search stored ALPR records to reconstruct the past movements of a person or vehicle that was not under investigation when those records were originally collected?

Yes / No. Please explain your answer.

4. Network sharing

Should ALPR data collected in Talbot County be made searchable by law-enforcement agencies outside Talbot County through regional, statewide, national, or vendor-operated networks when those agencies do not have a warrant or court order specifically seeking that information?

Yes / No. Please explain your answer.

5. The line you would draw

Would you support a Talbot County law prohibiting fixed-point ALPR systems that indiscriminately collect and retain location data about vehicles not connected to a specific crime or investigation?

Yes / No. If no, describe specifically what use of fixed-point ALPR technology you would permit and what limits you would require.

Candidate Responses

Candidate responses will be published here on Friday, October 9.

Responses will be published in full and as received. Candidates who do not submit a response by the October 5 deadline will be listed as “No response received.”

Why We Are Asking

DeFlock Easton’s position on fixed-point ALPR technology is not neutral. Our stated goal is to prohibit fixed-point ALPR systems in the Town of Easton and, ultimately, throughout Talbot County.

The purpose of this survey, however, is to establish where each candidate stands.

The issue is broader than whether Talbot County government purchases cameras itself. Fixed-point ALPR raises several distinct policy questions:

• Whether government should operate the cameras.
• Whether law enforcement should access privately collected ALPR data.
• Whether historical records should be searchable.
• Whether locally collected information should be available outside the county.
• Whether limits on these practices should be established in county law.

Those are decisions that elected officials may be asked to make.

Before voters choose the next Talbot County Council, we believe they should have the opportunity to know how the candidates would approach them.