Connecticut License Plate Reader (ALPR) Laws (2026)

Connecticut has a new, detailed ALPR law: sections 13 to 15 of Public Act 26-14, signed by the Governor on May 4, 2026. In one sentence, from October 1, 2026 a public agency, or a private vendor under contract with one, may operate a plate reader or use plate data only for listed purposes, generally may not keep the data more than 21 days, and may not use it for immigration enforcement or to target protected activity.

Information reviewed September 30, 2026.

For related pages, see the Connecticut entry in the state comparison, the ALPR laws hub, Are Flock cameras legal?, What are Flock cameras?, and our Connecticut surveillance camera laws guide.

What is in force now, and what starts October 1, 2026?

Section 13 of the act is headed "Effective from passage," but its operating limits carry their own dates. Subsections 13(b), 13(d), and 13(j) begin "On and after October 1, 2026." The vendor-contract rules in 13(g) and 13(h) apply from the effective date of the section, which is passage. The bill status page shows "5/4/2026 Signed by Governor in Original." One later act changes section 13: Public Act 26-76, section 46, signed May 27, 2026 and effective on passage, removed the vendor-contract ban on commingling data in section 13(g)(5). A text search of all 151 public acts of the 2026 regular session found no other amendment to sections 13 to 15 and no change to the October 1, 2026 dates.

No Connecticut General Statutes codification number was seen for these sections. Until the revisers codify them, the correct citation is Public Act 26-14, section 13. The research did not enumerate Connecticut ALPR rules that predate the act, so this page does not say what the law was before it.

What does the act cover?

The act defines an automated license plate reader system to exclude "an image recording device that provides evidence used in enforcement of an offense." Automated traffic enforcement safety devices, work-zone speed systems, and school bus violation systems are examples of excluded devices.

The operating restriction in section 13(b)(1) is written for a "public agency or private vendor under contract with a public agency." This page did not identify a provision reaching a business or homeowners association that runs its own plate readers without a public-agency contract, and it does not say there is none.

Who may use plate readers, and for what?

Section 13(b)(1) provides that "[o]n and after October 1, 2026, no public agency or private vendor under contract with a public agency may operate an automated license plate reader system or use automated license plate reader data, except as follows." The list of exceptions splits by type of agency.

Any public agency may use a reader for these purposes:

• weigh stations;
• monitoring agency vehicles and equipment;
• secured-area access;
• traffic analytics;
• parking enforcement and fee collection;
• monitoring state facilities; and
• motor-vehicle tax compliance.

A law enforcement agency may compare plate data to a hotlist or to listed databases: CT COLLECT, NCIC, FBI missing-persons records, CJIS, the Terrorist Screening Database, and NCMEC. It may also enter a plate when an officer determines it may be relevant to a specific active criminal investigation with reasonable suspicion, with a logged reason and case number, or when it relates to an outstanding warrant, a missing or endangered person, or a stolen vehicle.

How long can the data be kept?

From October 1, 2026, data held by a public agency or its vendor "shall not be retained for a period in excess of twenty-one days," or a shorter period if the contract requires. The exceptions are specific:

• retention under a warrant, a court order, or evidence-preservation rules;
• highway-usage-fee collection data, deleted within 30 days of collection;
• evidence in an active criminal investigation or prosecution, with supervisory approval and a written record and with defined deletion triggers; and
• de-identified, aggregated traffic analytics.

Two separate exceptions also exist. Data needed to prove a subsequent offense with a higher penalty may be kept, and motor-vehicle tax compliance data may be kept longer only to check compliance with municipal motor vehicle tax laws, may be shared only with the tax assessor or the registered owner, and must be deleted after 90 days or on a compliance finding, whichever comes first.

What uses does the act prohibit?

From October 1, 2026, section 13(d) prohibits these uses:

• monitoring or investigating a person based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, sex, pregnancy, disability, citizenship, nationality, income level, or perceived criminal history, with a narrow exception where a prior conviction is an element of the offense;
• identifying people engaged in First Amendment activity;
• "investigating a suspected immigration violation or otherwise assisting in any civil or criminal immigration enforcement activity";
• investigating or prosecuting people who sought, received, or provided reproductive or gender-affirming care lawful in Connecticut; and
• collecting data from fixed readers on the premises of, or within a distance the state Police Officer Standards and Training Council sets from, a reproductive or sexual health facility that primarily provides gender-affirming care or a nonprofit that primarily serves immigrant communities, if it has notified the Council of its location, unless authorized under section 29-6d.

Who can receive the data?

From October 1, 2026, sharing and access follow tiers under section 13(d)(6) to (8):

• Connecticut public agencies may receive data.
• Law enforcement of New York, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts, or a task force with a Connecticut member, may receive it on a written declaration of compliance and no immigration or reproductive-care use.
• Any other law enforcement agency, including a federal agency, may receive data only if it "has a judicially issued probable cause warrant for the specific data requested," or in the case of a Terrorist Screening Database match.
• A person may obtain data on a vehicle registered in that person's own name.

Participation in multistate or national networks requires a written declaration by each participant. Real-time, bulk, or automatic access by a public agency is barred unless there is a documented, case-specific request.

Can you request ALPR records in Connecticut?

Section 13(e) provides that "[a]utomated license plate reader data is confidential and shall not be deemed a public record for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act." Two categories are treated differently. Camera locations are public records, unless the camera is funded by the Department of Homeland Security with a non-disclosure condition. Audit, usage, and access-log data are public records with plate data redacted.

A person may also obtain data on a vehicle registered in that person's own name, and co-owners must consent. In practice, a request is likelier to produce camera locations or audit information than another driver's travel history.

What must vendor contracts say?

Under section 13(g) and (h), "no public agency shall enter into or renew any contract with a private vendor related to automated license plate reader system usage" unless the contract includes specified terms. The contract must bar the vendor from:

• selling the data;
• sharing it without the agency's prior written authorization;
• letting others access it, except under a warrant or court order, with grand jury subpoenas excluded;
• sharing it where immigration or reproductive or gender-affirming-care prosecution or protected-speech targeting is reasonably believed; and
• storing it in a manner that does not follow industry-recognized data security practices, including encryption. The act as signed also barred commingling one agency's data with other agencies' or persons' data, but Public Act 26-76, section 46, signed May 27, 2026, removed that requirement.

The contract must also include consent to Connecticut jurisdiction and Connecticut choice of law.

What are the remedies?

The Attorney General may sue a contracting vendor for an injunction, declaratory relief, damages, and civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation. From October 1, 2026, an aggrieved individual may sue a public agency, or the vendor if the vendor committed the violation, for injunctive or declaratory relief, with costs and fees limited to the injunctive claim.

An officer who knowingly misuses data with malicious intent faces discipline, including action on POST certification. Data collected in compliance with the act, or under a Superior Court warrant, may be admissible in state court.

What is the implementation calendar?

The act sets a series of later deadlines. Separately, on August 7, 2026 the Governor asked the Police Officer Standards and Training Council for guidance within 30 days and urged municipalities to pause installing new cameras and plate readers until it was finalized. The Council adopted advisory recommendations on September 24, 2026, which reportedly include a suggested 7-day retention period; its chair was reported as saying they are advisory and do not override state law. Recommendations cannot amend the act, so its 21-day limit still applies. Section 14 requires the Police Officer Standards and Training Council to adopt a model policy by December 1, 2026. It must cover hotlist standards, retention, access and sharing controls, an oversight unit, training, audit and logging requirements with audits at least quarterly, public transparency and annual statistical reports, the distance in section 13(d)(5), and vendor contracting.

What have courts said?

The case search found no Connecticut court decision interpreting an ALPR statute or deciding whether ALPR collection is a search. Most of the act's limits begin only on October 1, 2026. Connecticut appellate opinions that mention license plate readers recite plate-reader hits as investigative facts and do not address the legality of the technology. Only the passages containing the term were read.

What local decisions have been recorded?

The records below come from the sources named, with the dates those sources give. The list is not complete. None of these records is described as a violation of the act, whose use limits did not apply until October 1, 2026.

• Killingworth: the Board of Selectmen decided at its June 8, 2026 meeting not to renew its Flock contract, as reported on July 2, 2026.
• Windsor: on July 6, 2026 the town council voted 4-5 against a motion to reactivate the police department's plate reader cameras and renew its Flock contract.
• Milford: as of September 14, 2026, the board rejected a camera ban and ordered a review, and the police program is recorded as active.
• East Lyme: the police department paused use as of September 25, 2026.
• Newtown: the police department paused use as of August 21, 2026.

How can you check a local system?

Start with the town or police department's written policy. By January 1, 2027, law enforcement agencies must have adopted the state model policy or a stronger one, and other public agencies must have a written public policy. Ask for the vendor contract and compare it with the required terms above. Camera locations and redacted audit and access-log data are public records under section 13(e), so those are the records to request.

Frequently asked questions

Last updated: September 30, 2026. Public Act 26-14 and Public Act 26-76 were reviewed on September 30, 2026; dates in the calendar are those the act states.

One general law may be relevant. The Connecticut Data Privacy Act, C.G.S. §§ 42-515 to 42-525, as amended by Public Act 25-113 effective July 1, 2026, applies to persons that conduct business in the state or target its residents and controlled or processed the personal data of at least 35,000 consumers in the preceding calendar year, and to persons that control or process consumers' sensitive data or offer consumers' personal data for sale, in the first two cases excluding personal data controlled or processed solely to complete a payment transaction. Under § 42-517(a) it does not apply to any "[b]ody, authority, board, bureau, commission, district or agency of this state or of any political subdivision of this state," or to any nonprofit organization, among other listed exemptions. The act does not mention license plates, and this page does not decide whether it reaches a private plate reader operator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Connecticut have an ALPR law?

Yes. Sections 13 to 15 of Public Act 26-14, signed May 4, 2026, regulate ALPR use by public agencies and their vendors. The core use limits apply on and after October 1, 2026.

How long can Connecticut agencies keep license plate data?

Not more than 21 days, or less if the contract requires, with exceptions such as a warrant, court order, evidence in an active criminal investigation, and de-identified traffic analytics.

Can Connecticut plate data be used for immigration enforcement?

No. The act prohibits use of ALPR data for investigating a suspected immigration violation or assisting in civil or criminal immigration enforcement, and it limits sharing with federal agencies to a judicially issued probable cause warrant or a Terrorist Screening Database match.

Is Connecticut ALPR data a public record?

The data is confidential under the Freedom of Information Act. Camera locations and audit and access-log data with plate data redacted are public records.

Can I sue under the act?

From October 1, 2026, an aggrieved individual may sue a public agency, or a vendor that committed the violation, for injunctive or declaratory relief. Costs and fees are limited to the injunctive claim.