North Dakota License Plate Reader Laws (2026)

North Dakota has no license plate reader statute. The Century Code's only reference to plate readers is a carve-out inside a definition, N.D.C.C. § 29-29.4-01(8), which excludes law enforcement plate readers from the definition of "robot" in the state's drone and robot surveillance chapter. It does not authorize, prohibit or limit plate reader use. A 2025 bill requested by the Attorney General that would have required the state transportation department, on a law enforcement or border agency's request, to allow plate readers on its infrastructure failed in the House, 42 to 51.

Information reviewed October 1, 2026.

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

Does North Dakota have a license plate reader law?

No statute we found sets plate reader rules. We opened every chapter of Titles 11 (counties), 12 (corrections), 12.1 (criminal code), 24 (highways), 29 (criminal procedure), 39 (motor vehicles and traffic), 40 (municipal government), 44 (offices and officers, including the open-records law), 51 (sales and exchanges), 54 (state government) and 57 (taxation) of the Century Code, and phrase-searched them across line breaks for license plate reader, license plate recognition, automated or automatic license plate, plate reader, license plate number and location data.

The only plate reader text was in § 29-29.4-01(8), quoted below. One other hit, an event data recorder definition in § 51-07-28 ("Records vehicle location data"), concerns manufacturer-installed vehicle recorders and is unrelated. Plate references in Title 39 are registration and plate issuance provisions.

A later text search of every chapter of the Century Code, in all titles, for the same phrases also found no other plate reader mention.

What does § 29-29.4-01(8) say?

Chapter 29-29.4 concerns unmanned aircraft and robots used for surveillance. Section 29-29.4-01(8) defines "robot" as a powered artificial machine or system that, once activated, operates in whole or in part autonomously without real-time human control, and adds that "The term includes a system capable of using force, conducting surveillance, or moving independent of direct human input." It continues: "The term does not include a law enforcement body-worn camera, a law enforcement in-car camera or license plate reader, or any other law enforcement camera that does not require a search warrant."

The effect is that a law enforcement plate reader is not a "robot" under that chapter. The section creates no rule about plate readers. Its closing phrase, "does not require a search warrant," describes the excluded cameras and is not a statement authorizing them.

How long can North Dakota keep plate reader data?

We found no retention period, sharing limit, audit requirement or restriction on who may operate a plate reader. Those matters are left to each agency's policy and its vendor contract. We did not open a Fargo or Bismarck department policy, so we make no statement about their written terms. At the Fargo City Commission's September 30, 2024 meeting, a police captain said Fargo's camera footage is kept 30 days unless pulled for evidence; that is a statement at a meeting, not a published policy.

Do other North Dakota laws reach plate data?

Tracking warrants. Chapter 29-29.6 says a government entity "may not obtain the location information of an electronic device without a tracking warrant." Section 29-29.6-01(4) defines location information as information about the location of an electronic device, which covers cell-site and GPS or mapping information. That is a device-centered rule. By its terms it does not cover a roadside camera reading a plate. We found no North Dakota court that has applied it either way, so that is our reading of the text.

Motor vehicle records. Chapter 39-33 bars the Department of Transportation from knowingly disclosing personal information from motor vehicle records except as the chapter allows, and one permitted use is by a government agency, including a law enforcement agency, in carrying out its functions. It governs looking up who a plate is registered to, not the camera read itself.

Immigration cooperation. N.D.C.C. § 44-08-25, as amended by H.B. 1303 (2025, effective July 1, 2025), bars the state and political subdivisions from adopting or implementing a sanctuary policy, including one that "Limits or prohibits an individual from communicating or cooperating with federal agencies or officials to verify or report the immigration status of an individual." It does not mention plate readers and does not require any agency to share plate data. Whether a local rule limiting plate reader sharing with federal immigration agencies would count as a prohibited sanctuary policy is untested.

Open records. North Dakota's open-records law is open by default under Article XI, Section 6 of the constitution and N.D.C.C. § 44-04-18. Section 44-04-18.7(1) provides that "Active criminal intelligence information and active criminal investigative information are not subject to section 44-04-18 and section 6 of article XI of the Constitution of North Dakota." Criminal investigative information is information about an identifiable person compiled in the course of investigating a specific act, including any type of surveillance, while active. There is no plate reader exemption. In the H.B. 1050 hearing, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation testified that most agencies treat plate reader data as criminal investigative information, but that Attorney General's office attorneys believe audit information in a plate reader system may still be an open record, and it proposed an exemption for all plate reader images and data. The bill failed, so that exemption was never enacted. We did not find an Attorney General open-records opinion on plate reader data, but we did not open the Attorney General's opinion index. Whether routine plate reads fall inside § 44-04-18.7 is untested as far as we could find.

What did H.B. 1050 try to change?

H.B. 1050 (2025), requested by the Attorney General and introduced by the House Transportation Committee, would have amended N.D.C.C. § 24-02-45 so that the Department of Transportation "shall enter into an agreement," at the request of a state, county or city law enforcement agency or a federal agency with border-control responsibilities, for placing license plate readers on department-owned or department-operated equipment or infrastructure for law enforcement or border control purposes. The official page shows the House committee reported "do not pass" on January 24, 2025, and on January 28 the bill "failed to pass, yeas 42 nays 51." The current § 24-02-45 contains no plate reader wording.

The committee record for H.B. 1050 includes testimony from Bureau of Criminal Investigation Chief Agent Ben Leingang, who testified in support on January 16, 2025. He said the Bureau began talks with the Department of Transportation in 2022 about using its poles for plate readers and that "the NDDOT declined to grant approval in March of 2024" after concluding it lacked authority to permit another state agency to place equipment on street poles. He also testified that Fargo and Bismarck police employ plate reader systems. Matt Linneman, the Department of Transportation's Deputy Director for Engineering, testified that the department opposed the bill as presented, that it "does not have any authority to permit these types of devices for law enforcement purposes," and proposed limiting the bill to agencies with border security responsibilities and changing "shall" to "may." These are witness statements in committee minutes, not findings or law.

What have North Dakota courts said?

We found no North Dakota court ruling on plate readers. A CourtListener phrase search of North Dakota state courts, the Eighth Circuit and the District of North Dakota returned only Eighth Circuit opinions from other states in which plate reader data appeared as evidence, plus Arkansas plate reader statute cases. We did not open them. We did not search the North Dakota courts' own site, so this is not proof that no ruling exists.

Where are plate readers reported in North Dakota?

This list is not complete. The Fargo City Commission's September 30, 2024 minutes record a 4 to 1 vote approving the $116,750 purchase of Flock Safety technology for the Fargo Police Department, after a pilot that began June 3, 2024. At that meeting a police captain said camera footage is kept 30 days before automatic deletion unless pulled for evidence; that is a statement at a meeting, not a published policy. Fargo's police policy on plate readers could not be loaded when we checked (the city's site returned HTTP 503 at the time), so beyond the captain's statement at the meeting we do not state its written retention or sharing terms.

Is North Dakota changing the law?

We identified no pending plate reader bill. North Dakota has no regular session in 2026, and the 70th Legislative Assembly convenes in January 2027, the first regular chance to revive H.B. 1050-type authority or add limits. The January and September 2026 special sessions were called for other subjects, and their published agendas list no plate reader bill.

How can I check my local system?

Ask the operating agency for its written policy, retention setting and vendor contract. Because North Dakota has no plate reader statute, those documents are where the rules for a particular department are written down. A request for plate reads themselves may be met with the active-criminal-investigative-information exemption discussed above. For the technology itself, 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 North Dakota?

We found no North Dakota statute that prohibits or authorizes plate readers. The only Century Code reference is a definition in N.D.C.C. § 29-29.4-01(8) that excludes law enforcement plate readers from the definition of robot in the state's drone and robot surveillance chapter.

How long can North Dakota police keep license plate reader data?

We found no statute or rule setting a retention period. Retention is left to agency policy and vendor contracts, and we did not verify any department's terms.

Did North Dakota try to pass a plate reader law?

H.B. 1050 (2025), requested by the Attorney General, would have required NDDOT to enter agreements, at the request of law enforcement or federal border agencies, to place license plate readers on its equipment or infrastructure. It failed in the House, 42 to 51, on January 28, 2025.

Does a North Dakota tracking warrant apply to plate readers?

Chapter 29-29.6 addresses the location information of electronic devices. By its terms it does not address a roadside camera reading a plate, and we found no North Dakota court ruling applying it to plate readers.

Are North Dakota plate reader records public?

There is no plate reader exemption. Active criminal intelligence and investigative information is exempt from open records under § 44-04-18.7, and whether routine plate reads fall within that exemption is untested as far as we found.