by State Rep. Brad Christ's Office
State Rep. Brad Christ (R-Sappington) announced Friday that he will support legislation next legislative session to regulate automated license plate reader cameras in Missouri, which currently operate under no state law. More than 3,400 of the cameras are in use across the state according to community mapping projects.
The bill would require license plate and vehicle data to be permanently deleted within thirty days, prohibit vendors from sharing or commercializing Missouri-generated data, limit the use of ALPR technology to legitimate criminal justice and lifesaving purposes, require accountability measures to prevent and penalize misuse, and prohibit the integration of artificial intelligence facial recognition technology with ALPR systems.
"Our police should keep every tool that catches criminals, and our government should not keep a map of where every law-abiding family drives," Christ said. "Right now, Missouri has no law on this at all. A Joplin officer ran one plate almost 400 times, a St. Charles County employee used the cameras for personal reasons, and a man from Sunset Hills was told at the Kirkwood Lowe's that his own car was stolen. Nobody voted for any of this. My bill keeps the cameras, puts real limits on the data, and puts a felony behind those limits."
Christ made the announcement after several concerns reached his office including a Sunset Hills resident Jim Dobernic who was stopped by police in the Kirkwood Lowe's parking lot and told his car was stolen.
"I was completely surprised to be swarmed by police and accused of stealing my own car," Dobernic said. "I had to show them my driver's license and registration to keep them from towing it. They told me they stopped me because my license plate matched one that had been reported stolen and a license plate camera tracked him in Kirkwood."
The Missouri Sheriffs' Association said in August that it supports a statutory retention limit, agency ownership of camera data and penalties for misuse. Six bills to ban the cameras outright have been filed since 2024; none received a hearing. Christ's desires in future legislation is the first to combine a short retention cap, a sharing ban, a suppression remedy and criminal penalties.
The license plate bill builds on Christ's earlier work on data privacy. In the 2025 session he sponsored House Bill 500, the Biometric Information Privacy Act, which would require private companies to get written consent before collecting a person's fingerprints, facial scans, DNA or other biometric identifiers; bar them from selling or profiting from that data; require a public schedule for destroying it; and let individuals sue for $1,000 to $5,000 per violation. Christ has said the two bills address the same problem from two directions: a fingerprint or a DNA sample can't be reissued like a credit card number, and neither can a year-long record of where a family drives. "Whether it's a company scanning your face or a camera logging your plate, the rule should be the same," Christ said. "Collect only what you need, keep it only as long as you need it, and answer for it if you abuse it."
Christ chairs the House Emerging Issues Committee and is endorsed by the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police and the St. Louis County Police Association. He was first elected in 2022 and represents the 96th District, which includes Sunset Hills, Crestwood, Fenton, Sappington and Oakland.
