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# Missouri Orders 30-Day Limit for License-Plate Camera Data
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-missouri-2026-09-18-a/
- Published: 2026-09-18T15:22:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-18T15:22:18.000Z
- Description: Missouri’s new executive order requires most automated license-plate reader data to be deleted within 30 days and directs state-funded law enforcement to log searches, restrict vendors and bar facial-recognition integration.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: State News, Missouri

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has ordered state agencies and state-funded local law enforcement to delete most automated license-plate reader data within 30 days, creating statewide minimum privacy and accountability rules while lawmakers consider permanent legislation.

[Executive Order 26-18](https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2026/eo18?ref=theamericanquorum.com), signed September 16 and effective immediately, directs the Department of Public Safety to oversee standards for systems that photograph license plates and record the time and location of a vehicle. The order applies to executive-branch agencies, boards and commissions and to local law enforcement entities that receive state funding.

The order requires captured images and associated data to be permanently deleted within 30 days unless they are needed for an active criminal investigation, a life-safety emergency or a court order. Government agencies must retain ownership of the data, and vendors must certify that deleted records cannot be recovered.

Every database search must record the user’s identity and either an active case number or a specific law-enforcement justification. The order prohibits searches for personal purposes, stalking, intimidation or unauthorized sharing. It also bars vendors from selling, sharing or commercializing the data and prohibits integration of the systems with artificial-intelligence facial-recognition technology.

## Enforcement and the reach of the order

Misuse can lead to discipline, a criminal referral under Missouri law and a report to the Department of Public Safety director for possible action affecting an officer’s license. The same consequences apply when a user improperly adds a vehicle to a notification list, according to the [executive order’s enforcement provisions](https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2026/eo18?ref=theamericanquorum.com).

The directive is not a blanket statewide ban on plate-reader systems. Its mandatory local reach is tied to state funding, and the [governor’s announcement](https://governor.mo.gov/press-releases/archive/governor-kehoe-signs-executive-order-establishing-safeguards-automated?ref=theamericanquorum.com) encourages other local agencies to adopt the standards voluntarily.

The Department of Public Safety must issue best-practice guidance within 10 days of the order, making September 26 the practical deadline. The department is also directed to work with police chiefs, sheriffs, the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, the Highway Patrol, prosecutors and the attorney general on legislation. The proposed framework would allow the state to withhold grants from noncompliant agencies and create a specific crime for intentional misuse.

## Why the state acted now

The action follows scrutiny of systems supplied by Flock Safety and other vendors. [KCUR and St. Louis Public Radio reported](https://www.kcur.org/politics-elections-and-government/2026-09-16/missouri-governor-orders-guardrails-on-flock-cameras-and-automated-license-plate-readers?ref=theamericanquorum.com) that St. Charles County prohibited Flock cameras after alleged misuse by a former civilian employee, while a Brentwood police officer was accused of using the technology to stalk his former wife. Pulaski County also stopped using the system.

Kehoe’s order describes automated readers as useful for locating stolen vehicles, missing people and criminal suspects but says safeguards are needed to protect civil liberties. That balance is temporary: the order remains in force until it is amended, rescinded, superseded or replaced by legislation.

For residents, the most immediate change is a defined retention period and an audit trail for searches at covered agencies. The larger policy questions—including whether every local department must follow identical rules and what penalties should apply statewide—will move to the General Assembly.