Hayden has no license plate cameras. Its council is writing the rules before anyone puts one up

Hayden does not own a single automated license plate reader. Its City Council is writing the rules anyway.

On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the council talked through what a formal city policy on the cameras should say, the Coeur d'Alene Press and Kootenai County News reported. No ordinance was adopted. The council agreed to hold a workshop, tentatively in January. No date has been set.

The discussion covered cameras run by government and cameras run by private owners.

WHAT A PLATE READER IS

Idaho law defines an automated license plate reader as a device that passively records the license plates of vehicles on a roadway. The cameras photograph every plate that passes and store the plate, the time and the place. Police can check those records against lists of stolen or wanted vehicles.

THE THREE QUESTIONS

Both reports say the council's discussion came down to three things:

- Who can see the data.
- How long it is kept.
- Whether it can be shared or sold.

WHERE THE COUNCIL STANDS

These positions are as reported by the Press from Tuesday's meeting and from meetings in August and October.

- Councilman David Erickson said Hayden has zero city-operated cameras, so it can set rules before any are installed. He moved here from Costa Mesa, Calif., where that city's Flock cameras drew opposition, and he has said he opposes cameras that track residents' plates and routines.
- Councilman Tom Shafer said cameras on private property could let companies collect data with no city oversight. He wants the workshop topics reviewed by the city's lawyers so the policy is as tight as possible.
- Councilman Matt Roetter said the readers have a place. He described a search for his father-in-law, who has dementia and had driven away from home. The cameras helped narrow the search, he said, but did not find the car. His concern is who operates them and whether the public safety gain is worth a loss of public trust.
- Council President Ed DePriest said the city's legal authority over cameras on private property and public easements should be at the center of the workshop. In October he said the crime-fighting benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
- Mayor Alan Davis said in August that Hayden has no plans to install the cameras.

HOW IT GOT HERE

- Aug. 11: Residents asked the council for assurances that the city would not install the cameras. One resident, Deborah Rose, said a camera could have cleared her when she was wrongly accused. Council members said they opposed installing them and asked staff to find out what the city can legally do, including about private operators.
- Oct. 13: A policy was on the council's agenda. A city staff memo, as described by the Press, laid out steps: a work session on how long data is kept, whether to join a wider network, whether readers could be used for misdemeanors and whether the policy would expire; talks with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office; and adoption by resolution.
- Nov. 10: The council discussed it again and agreed to a workshop.

We have not read the staff memo or a draft policy. We do not know whether the city is weighing limited use of the cameras, a ban, or both.

WHY HAYDEN IS DIFFERENT

- Hayden has no police department. It contracts with the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. That agreement expired Sept. 30 and the two sides are still negotiating, the Spokesman-Review reported.
- Its neighbors already use readers. Coeur d'Alene police have had them since 2007 and now run 20 cameras, Police Chief Greg Yeager told the Press in August. Post Falls owns its own readers; Mayor Randy Westlund said in July the city will not use Flock cameras, which he called "spying."
- The state law passed in 2025 covers government agencies. It sets no limit on how long plate data can be kept, and it does not cover cameras owned by stores, landlords or homeowners associations.

WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW

- How many privately owned plate readers are in Hayden today. A volunteer map listed 11 Flock cameras on private property around Coeur d'Alene in August, the Press reported. We found no count for Hayden.
- Whether a city in Idaho can restrict a camera on private property. That is the question council members want their lawyers to answer.
- The date of the January workshop.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

The council holds its workshop, tentatively in January. Any policy would come back to the council for a vote after that.

HOW WE REPORTED THIS

We did not attend Tuesday's meeting. What council members said is from the Coeur d'Alene Press and Kootenai County News. The description of state law is from Idaho Code 49-1432, read Nov. 11, 2026.