Missouri License Plate Reader Laws (2026)

Missouri has no license plate reader statute, but since September 16, 2026 it has an executive order. Governor Kehoe's Executive Order 26-18 sets minimum standards for plate reader use by state agencies and by local law enforcement that receives state funding, "to the greatest extent permissible by applicable law." It is an executive order, not a statute, and its standards apply "until a permanent legislative enactment is made."

Information reviewed October 1, 2026.

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

What is Missouri's rule for plate readers?

The operative rule is Executive Order 26-18, signed September 16, 2026 by Governor Kehoe and attested by the Secretary of State. It states: "Effective immediately, to the greatest extent permissible by applicable law, I hereby direct all State agencies, boards, commissions, and local law enforcement entities that receive state funding and utilize ALPR technology, to implement the following minimum standards governing the use of ALPR technology until a permanent legislative enactment is made."

Three limits matter for reading it. It is an executive directive, not a statute, and a court, the Legislature or a later order could change it. It reaches local agencies through the words "that receive state funding," and we found nothing in the order addressing a local agency that takes no state funding. And it is qualified by "to the greatest extent permissible by applicable law," so its effect depends on what other law allows. The order remains in effect "until amended, superseded, or rescinded by subsequent order or legislation."

What standards does the executive order set?

The order's section I sets these minimum standards.

Retention. State and state-funded local entities "shall ensure the permanent deletion of all captured license plate and vehicle images within 30 days of collection." Data may be kept longer only if directly linked to a specific, active, ongoing criminal investigation or an active life-safety emergency (a missing person, or an Amber or Silver Alert) and strictly necessary, or to comply with a court order.

Ownership and vendors. All data, metadata and imagery captured by a covered agency's system "shall remain the sole and exclusive property of that agency." Third-party vendors and contractors are "strictly prohibited from accessing, acquiring, selling, sharing, commercializing, or leveraging Missouri-generated data for any non-law enforcement purpose." Contracts must require written vendor certification of 30-day deletion. The order says nothing about sharing with federal agencies or other states' agencies for law enforcement purposes.

Purpose and access. A plate reader may be accessed "exclusively for the administration of criminal justice as that term is defined in Section 43.500, RSMo and bona fide lifesaving efforts." The order bars integration with AI facial recognition.

Logging and discipline. Covered entities "shall ensure every query records the user's identity and a valid active case number or specific law enforcement justification." Personal use, stalking, unauthorized sharing or adding non-criminal-justice entries to a hot list trigger disciplinary proceedings, criminal referral under RSMo 576.050 where appropriate, and a mandatory report to the Director of Public Safety for officer license revocation or discipline.

What comes next under the order?

Section II directs the Director of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), working with the Missouri Police Chiefs Association, the Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the State Highway Patrol and prosecutors, to develop a legislative proposal. The order says the proposal should codify the guardrails, audit requirements, a standalone plate reader misuse crime, and withholding of state grant money from entities that do not follow the rules.

Section III requires DPS to "make available guidance on best practices for ALPR use" within 10 days of the order, which is about September 26, 2026. We looked for that guidance on the DPS website on October 1, 2026 and did not find it, so we cannot say whether it has been issued.

Does Missouri have a plate reader statute?

No section we found regulates plate readers. We fetched 2,713 sections of the Revised Statutes of Missouri in 26 chapters from the Revisor of Statutes and searched them for license plate reader, plate reader, automated or automatic license plate, and license plate recognition, scan or capture. There were zero matches. There were also zero matches for vehicle location, location data, geolocation and location information. As a control, the phrase "beyond a reasonable doubt" matched five sections. The "license plate" phrase matched 198 sections, which concern vehicle registration (chapter 301), inspections, parking, scrap metal (RSMo 407.300) and similar subjects.

The chapters we read were 27, 32, 37, 43, 105, 226 to 228, 238, 300 to 307, 407, 542 to 545, 565, 570, 576, 590, 610 and 650, including all 39 sections of chapter 590 (peace officers), where no plate reader section exists. We did not open chapters 57, 67, 70, 71, 195, 577, 589, 620, chapters 1 to 26 or the remaining chapters, so a mention there could have been missed.

Do other Missouri statutes reach plate data?

Insurance verification. RSMo 303.430 provides that "the department of revenue shall maintain a historical record of the system data for a period of no more than twelve months from the date of all requests and responses," accessible to courts and law enforcement. It concerns an insurance verification system and does not mention plate readers.

Toll enforcement. RSMo 227.660 and 238.367 allow toll violations to be proven by reports "based upon inspection of photographs ... or other recorded images produced by a photo monitoring system." Neither sets data rules for plate readers.

Immigration cooperation. RSMo 650.475(1) provides that "no government entity, political subdivision, or government official within the state of Missouri shall prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from communicating or cooperating with" federal immigration authorities "regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful," of any individual. Subsection (3) bars restricting public employees from sending or exchanging information regarding immigration status. The section is directed at immigration status information and never mentions plate data. Whether it affects limits on sharing plate reader data with immigration authorities is an interpretation that no official source we opened establishes.

Are Missouri plate reader records public?

Under the Sunshine Law, a public record includes "records created or maintained by private contractors under an agreement with a public governmental body or on behalf of a public governmental body" (RSMo 610.010). That wording reaches records a vendor holds for an agency. RSMo 610.100 defines arrest, incident and investigative reports and closes records in various circumstances.

The official annotation to RSMo 610.100 cites State ex rel. Goodman v. St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, 181 S.W.3d 156 (Mo. App. E.D. 2005), for this statement: "License plate numbers, addresses, telephone numbers, and month and date of birth of the parties in vehicular incident reports are not subject to disclosure as open records." We read only the annotation, not the opinion, and the statement concerns vehicular incident reports. We found no Missouri decision or Attorney General opinion on plate reader records, though we did not search Attorney General opinions.

What do the constitution and the courts say?

Article I, section 15 of the Missouri Constitution, as amended in 2014, says that "the people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes, effects, and electronic communications and data, from unreasonable searches and seizures." It also requires warrants to describe the data or communication to be accessed. The executive order's recitals invoke the state and federal constitutions. We found no opinion applying section 15 to plate readers.

We found no Missouri ruling on whether plate reader use is a search. Two Eighth Circuit opinions arising from Missouri mention plate readers only as background facts. In United States v. Brooks (8th Cir. Dec. 17, 2020), Kansas City officers patrolling with a plate reader got an alert on a stolen vehicle and stopped it, and the court affirmed denial of suppression because officers had reasonable suspicion. The alert was background, and the opinion decided no plate reader question. United States v. Lindsey (8th Cir. June 17, 2026) mentions "license plate reader and cell phone data placing Lindsey at the airport" in a footnote on a shackling issue, with no plate reader holding.

What bills would change Missouri law?

None of these is law.

SB 1027 (2026, Sen. Brattin) would add RSMo 590.1000. As introduced, it states: "No county, city, town, village, municipality, state agency, or other political subdivision of this state shall purchase, install, or use any automated license plate reader system, or access or use plate data captured from vehicles located on a public highway." It has exceptions for systems affixed to vehicles occupied by a peace officer and for third-party vendor data accessed under RSMo 303.420 to 303.440. Its status on the Senate page is Second Read and Referred to the Transportation, Infrastructure and Public Safety Committee.

SB 1166 (2026) has the same plate reader provision inside an automated traffic enforcement bill that also bans photo red-light systems, with the same status. The summaries of SB 540 and HB 658 (2025) describe identical provisions. In the House, HB 3192 (2026), which would establish a "Missouri Automatic License Plate Reader Regulation Act," was last referred to the Emerging Issues Committee on May 15, 2026. No Missouri plate reader bill we found advanced past committee referral.

This sets up a contrast: the executive order regulates and permits continued use, while SB 1027 and SB 1166 would prohibit most government use and HB 3192 would regulate it.

Where have Missouri agencies acted?

This list is not complete. Our deployment records show two decisions, each a local choice and not a state rule.

• St. Charles County: the county's release, posted September 1, 2026, reports that the county police department ended its use of Flock license plate readers, a decision made August 20, 2026 to opt out of the Flock contract and cover its 28 Flock cameras after an internal audit found an employee had misused the system. The release says the county still runs about 150 other plate-reading cameras through a different vendor.
• Parkville: a city post of September 11, 2026 says the city is turning off the cameras effective immediately and suspending its Flock Safety system.

The executive order's recitals say several Missouri communities have suspended deployment for lack of statewide guardrails.

How can I check my local system?

Ask the agency whether it is covered by Executive Order 26-18, meaning a state agency or a local law enforcement entity that receives state funding, and ask for its written policy, retention setting, query-logging practice and vendor contract. Compare those to the order's terms above. A request for records can be made under the Sunshine Law, which reaches vendor-held records. For the technology, see What are Flock cameras?.

Last updated: October 1, 2026. This page reflects the statutes and records described above as we reviewed them; it is general legal information, not legal advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it legal to use a license plate reader in Missouri?

We found no Missouri statute that prohibits or regulates plate readers. Executive Order 26-18 sets minimum standards for state agencies and state-funded local law enforcement to the greatest extent permissible by applicable law, but it is an executive order and not a statute.

What does Missouri Executive Order 26-18 require?

Permanent deletion of captured plate and vehicle images within 30 days with limited exceptions, access only for the administration of criminal justice and lifesaving efforts, a logged user identity and case number or justification for each query, no AI facial recognition integration, and vendor limits on using Missouri data for non-law enforcement purposes.

Does the executive order apply to my city police department?

By its terms it applies to local law enforcement entities that receive state funding and use plate readers. We found nothing in the order addressing a local agency that takes no state funding, and the Governor's announcement says local agencies are encouraged to voluntarily commit to these practices where possible under existing contracts and law.

Is there a Missouri law banning plate readers?

No. SB 1027 and SB 1166 would ban most government use, but both were at Second Read and Referred to a Senate committee at last check and neither is law.

Are Missouri plate reader records public?

The Sunshine Law covers records a private contractor maintains for a public body. We found no plate reader rule, opinion or ruling on the question, and some incident report information can be closed under RSMo 610.100.