‘It could wait.’ Police oversight board calls on Nashville to slow the rollout of license plate readers.

The board that oversees Nashville’s police department is calling on the city to slow down the rollout of license plate readers.  

The mayor’s administration filed a resolution to launch the use of the controversial technology, and wants to schedule a public hearing on Dec. 6.    

🚨 In the Friday afternoon "administration legislation" email to Council Members today – the admin has filed a resolution to launch its LPR pilot program. I'm told there will be a public hearing at our 12/6 Council meeting. pic.twitter.com/0GO0GnSqzq

— Bob Mendes (@mendesbob) November 18, 2022

But the oversight board’s director, Jill Fitcheard, is calling for that hearing to be pushed back.  

“The hearing is too soon to happen without a lot of public input,” Fitcheard said at the board’s Monday night meeting. “People are not going to be interested in doing that in the holiday season. It could wait till January.”

And the hearing isn’t the only thing raising concerns.

Fitcheard says that the board has not seen any policy drafts of how the technology will be implemented. And the oversight board is supposed to be the auditor of the license plate readers. 

“We are working blindly through this process, not getting the information,” Fitcheard says. “And I’m assuming that they were they created some type of form of draft policy. But who vetted it? Who read it?”

She says it’s imperative that both the board, and the public, are aware of the city’s policies surrounding license plate readers, before the program is officially launched — which can’t happen until the Metro Council votes to pass the resolution.