By JAMES RICKMAN
Los Alamos
Perhaps I should feel grateful that County leaders dispatched their official Spin Doctor to reply to my letter about the emergence of a network of Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) in our community (link). But outside of Mr. Krueger’s “Trust Us, We’re the Government” response, the County continues to sidestep the issue of why the cameras were installed in the first place.
Is Los Alamos facing some kind of underlying existential threat that necessitates its citizens giving up some of their liberties to gain a little more security?
The way the County tells it, Los Alamos saw a 20 percent overall reduction in crime from 2024 to 2025 (1); that rate had previously fallen by a similar percentage from 2023 to 2024. Keep in mind that both of these periods ostensibly were before the County began surveilling its citizens with ALPRs. Moreover, depending on what you Google, Los Alamos’s crime rate is 60 to 80 percent lower than the national average.
Have the police discovered some new threat in Los Alamos that necessitates tap dancing upon the Fourth Amendment and the fundamental presumption of innocence? Or do the police and County leadership simply hold citizens in such low esteem that they didn’t feel it necessary to ask whether we are comfortable becoming another in the burgeoning list of America’s Surveillance State test beds?
Another unanswered question: How many of our taxpayer dollars are being used to spy on us? Could that money perhaps be put to better use? Who knows? We never got the opportunity to weigh in.
And while Spin Doctor Krueger seeks to reassure us that the County’s policy on data collection and storage is as harmless as a kitten, when has the public had the opportunity to examine and provide input on said “policy”? Unless such policies are formalized by way of ordinance—which requires a process of public hearing and debate—the “policy” becomes merely a guideline, subject to the whims of leadership or The Moment.
Are County leaders afraid of what the answer from the public might be if they hold an open debate about the use of ALPRs in our community? From what we’ve seen so far, the answer appears to be a resounding Yes.
And let’s not fool ourselves about the “security” of ALPR systems and the data they hold, and the alleged integrity of the stewards of those data. In June 2024, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a bulletin (2) describing vulnerabilities in Motorola ALPRs (apparently the same brand the County uses). In January 2025, security and privacy advocate Matt Brown demonstrated how he could hack a Motorola ALPR and use it to stalk an unknowing target (3).
There are plenty of validated reports out there of police using ALPRs to track and stalk people, including a November 2025 story about the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arresting a police chief in a community similar to the size of Los Alamos for allegedly using an ALPR system to stalk and harass numerous people (4). Abuses using these systems occur more frequently than most rational people would want. But don’t just take my word for it; Google it for yourselves.
A lot of the discussion about ALPRs revolves around “public safety.” The sad fact is there have been and will continue to be many instances where erroneous ALPR data have led to dangerously escalated encounters between police and citizens (5,6,7). In a low-crime community like Los Alamos, where the police are spending sizable sums militarizing their department with heavily armored vehicles, SWAT equipment, and high surveillance gizmos, I predict it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing dangerous escalations by police right here.
Each election cycle, sweaty-faced candidates stumble into the spotlight at our community forums stammering about the importance of openness and transparency. Right now, we are seeing a Council, a County Manager, and a Police Chief peering out from behind the skirt of a press release written by a paid wordsmith hoping the need for open and honest communication will somehow go away.
The only openness by community leaders going on right now in Los Alamos is an open contempt for the rights and sensibilities of the citizens.
1) https://www.losalamosnm.gov/Community/News-media/Crime-Statistics-for-2025
2) https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-24-165-19
3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvINGzIa2fg
7) https://denverite.com/2025/10/27/bow-mar-flock-cameras-accusation/