Police and government entities would follow rules for plate-reader systems

State, county, and local law enforcement agencies would use plate-reader systems only for listed law enforcement, investigation, legal-compliance, parking, or secured-area purposes. The rules cover law enforcement agencies, government entities, and private contractors performing government functions. Uses outside the listed purposes would be prohibited. Agencies and government entities entering plate numbers manually would have to document the reason. The systems could not create frontal vehicle images as evidence of violations or conduct remote surveillance through recorded video. A court could order disclosure for a reasonably described criminal investigation or criminal law enforcement action. The rules would apply six months after enactment, when the act would take effect.

The Pennsylvania State Police would control secure storage of captured plate-reader data, and agencies would limit access, sharing, and retention. Captured data includes location, date and time, photographs, plate numbers, and other data collected from the systems. Agencies generally could not sell, trade, disseminate, or exchange captured data. Law enforcement agencies could share data with other law enforcement or criminal justice agencies only for official duties. Captured data would not be subject to disclosure under the Right-to-Know Law. Data would generally have to be destroyed one year after a final judgment or one year after an unrelated recorded event, whichever is later. Agencies with separate databases on the effective date would have one year to arrange data sharing, and previously collected data subject to destruction would generally have to be destroyed within one year after the effective date.

People using plate-reader systems would complete required training, while knowing violations could bring misdemeanor charges. The requirements cover people using plate-reader systems for law enforcement, investigations, legal compliance, parking, or secured-area access, plus the agencies and entities that operate them. Training for law enforcement purposes would need approval from the Pennsylvania State Police and the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission. Training for parking or secured-area uses would need to be publicly accessible under the required policy. A person who knowingly or intentionally makes a prohibited use could commit a second-degree misdemeanor; other listed violations could be third-degree misdemeanors. Municipalities could continue to adopt or enforce their own plate-reader rules. Current users without similar training would generally have six months from the effective date, or six months after an available State Police-certified course, whichever is later, to complete training.