North Carolina Legalizes AI License Plate Cameras on Nearly Every State Road

North Carolina has permanently legalized the deployment of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) across nearly every state-maintained road after deeming a pilot program a success. The new law allows state and local agencies to install fixed ALPR cameras in North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) rights-of-way, effectively granting them access to roughly 80% of the state’s road network. The cameras capture license plate data, including time, location, and sometimes vehicle make, model, and color, but cannot be used to enforce traffic violations. Instead, law enforcement agencies can search the data for criminal investigations, stolen vehicle recovery, or missing person cases. The State Bureau of Investigation can also act on behalf of federal, state, and local agencies. Data retention is capped at 90 days by default, though a sworn preservation request can extend this period for up to a year. Critics argue that such surveillance systems often expand beyond their original purpose, raising concerns about potential misuse in immigration enforcement, political monitoring, or broad intelligence gathering. The pilot program, which ran for about eight months, recorded over 152 million plate reads across 140 camera locations, generating 956 NCIC alerts—though only 227 were related to stolen vehicles. The ACLU of North Carolina has warned that mass surveillance systems rarely remain limited to their initial scope.