The Douglas City Council is deciding whether to turn on automated license plate reading technology in police patrol cars, and whether to let the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation tap into that data through a new information-sharing agreement.

Right now, the cameras being installed in Douglas patrol vehicles work like ordinary dash cams. City officials are weighing whether to activate their ability to scan and track every license plate that passes, and whether to open a direct pipeline of that data to state investigators, with a deal that either side could end without giving a reason.

Councilmember Perry Hershberger raised a warning during a recent council meeting, pointing to a Colorado driver who has been "pulled over every other day for the last six months," according to Hershberger, after a license plate reader system wrongly flagged his car for a warrant he doesn't have.

Just 30 miles away, Glenrock already faced this same choice, and chose caution. After residents raised due process and privacy concerns at a public meeting, the town put its own license plate camera contract renewal on hold rather than lock in another deal on the old terms. Douglas deserves that same chance to get this right before the cameras go live, not after.

Once license plate data starts flowing to the state, it doesn't come back. Douglas residents should get real public hearings and a plain-language data policy before the city council approves either the cameras or the information-sharing agreement.

Sign the petition to demand the Douglas City Council pause this decision for full public review before any license plate surveillance data starts flowing to the state.