CACHE COUNTY, Utah — The Cache County Sheriff's Office is set to begin testing a new license plate readers system that it claims won't be used for traffic citations or non-criminal activities.
In a release posted Friday, the sheriff's office said testing of the Motorola readers will be used to determine if the system is a "useful law enforcement tool."
Questions remain about the use and misuse of automatic license plate readers in Salt Lake City:
According to the sheriff's office, the license plate readers do not collect real-time video and will be used in situations such as AMBER and Silver alerts, as well as criminal activity.
"The sheriff's office will not use these photographs for traffic citations, parking tickets or non-serious criminal activity," the release said.
Any data collected during the test period will only be accessed by the Cache County Sheriff's Office and, according to state law, can only be kept for 9 months and will not be shared with any non-law enforcement agencies.
Unified Police removes Kearns license plate readers after public backlash:
The test comes as license plate readers face strong backlash in communities across Utah and the country. Municipalities such as Vineyard and Washington Terrace have stopped the use of the cameras in recent weeks and months.
Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen claimed the test is solely to learn the best ways to protect residents and visitors.
"This is an opportunity for us to better understand technology that may aid in keeping our communities safe," Jensen said. "...I would not install a product that would endanger my own family or our community. My role is to review tools that help solve or prevent crimes."