Guardian Shield is the community’s Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) program. Guardian Shield was initiated to enhance the community’s safety by providing an additional tool to further protect and shield residents and visitors from criminals who enter the city to cause harm. This program is not enforcement based nor does it access in a database containing personnel information. The systems alert on vehicles associated with a crime and on a hotlist.

Guardian Shield cannot nor will be used for anything traffic enforcement related, and it will only be used to guard and shield the community from vehicles attached to a hotlist or investigate crimes, such as criminal homicide, forcible rape, kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, theft, dangerous drug offenses, or a wanted person. In addition, the technology records video and images of the vehicle, which is only kept for a period of 30-days. The technology does not know who is driving or who is in the car. More importantly, the system does not access the Department of Safety’s license plate database, so there is no way to access personal data or determine who owns the vehicle.