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Bartlesville
Posted: Jun 16, 2026 9:02 AMUpdated: Jun 16, 2026 9:02 AM
Bartlesville Councilman Sherrick Proposes Fourth Amendment Warrant Requirement for License Plate Data
Tom Davis
Appearing on KWON Radio's COMMUNITY CONNECTION, Bartlesville City Councilor Tim Sherrick proposed a constitutional amendment to the city’s current automated license plate reader (ALPR) ordinance.
Sherrick said, "To avoid potential Fourth Amendment privacy violations, I propose requiring law enforcement to obtain judicial authorization (a warrant) before searching aggregated vehicle data." Sherrick hops to bring this up to the city council vote as early as the July or August 2026 meeting.
According to Sherrick, ALPR cameras capture license plates, locations, dates, and times of every passing vehicle, not just those tied to criminal activity. He said, "The problem is that over a 30-day data retention period, this mass collection creates a detailed "chronicle" of innocent residents' daily movements, where they worship, what doctors they see, who they visit."
Sherrick cited the U.S. Supreme Court case Carpenter v. United States (2018) saying the Supreme Court ruled that tracking historical cell site location data requires a warrant because individuals have a legitimate expectation of privacy in their physical movements. Sherrick argues this same logic directly applies to mass license plate surveillance.
Sherrick explained the key provisions of the proposed amendment saying that it does not ban the cameras or stop data collection. Instead, it adds specific legal safeguards: Police must secure a warrant, court order, or subpoena before querying the database for individual investigations.
Sherrick listed the Narrow "Exigent Circumstances" exceptions where warrantless access is restricted to three emergencies:
- An active Amber Alert.
- An active Silver Alert.
- Immediate pursuit of a fleeing violent felony suspect.
- Any officer using the emergency exception must file a written justification report within 24 hours.
Additionally, Sherrick said the ammendment would have the Bartlesville Police Department submitting a yearly summary to the City Council detailing the number of searches made under warrants versus emergency exceptions.
Sherrick said, "This amendment doesn't eliminate the use of ALPR cameras. What it does, and all it does, is require that before the government uses that data to investigate a specific individual, a judge must agree that there is a lawful basis to do so."
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