Two states set a clock on plate data: 21 days and 30

Two numbers in two days

On September 30, Missouri's Department of Public Safety published its first guidance on automated license plate readers for law enforcement agencies. The next day, October 1, Connecticut's Public Act 26-14 took effect. They use different tools and different numbers, and they are close enough to compare.

Connecticut: a statute with a clock

The act was approved on May 4 and its main restrictions apply from October 1. From that date, public agencies can operate plate readers or use plate data only for listed purposes. Per CT News Junkie, "data retention will be 21 days for images not part of an active investigation."

Searches cannot be run for immigration purposes, gender-affirming health care, reproductive care or activities protected by the First Amendment. The attorney general can investigate misuse and petition a court. The act also lists exceptions to the retention limit, including a warrant or court order, and those are in the act's own text.

Missouri: guidance with a clock

Governor Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-18 on September 16. The Department of Public Safety's guidance followed on September 30. Its recommendations include limited retention of plate data, with 30 days as the default, routine auditing at least monthly, and a legitimate law enforcement purpose for any search. It also asks for individual accountability for everyone with access to the data.

It is guidance, not law. Recording Law's state summary notes that Missouri has no plate-reader-specific statute.

What they share

Both give the data a lifespan that someone other than the vendor chose. Both ask who can search and why, and both build a record of access: the attorney general's oversight in Connecticut, the monthly audit in Missouri. Neither says "no cameras."

They differ in the ways that matter. Connecticut's is a statute the attorney general can enforce, and Missouri's is guidance. Connecticut's clock is 21 days for images outside an active investigation, and Missouri's is a 30-day default.

Who they bind

Both are written for government users. We have not read either for how it treats private operators, and none of this is legal advice. A private yard or warehouse is a different case from a police department, and the owner of that yard should ask its own counsel which of these, if either, reaches it.

What the two show is a choice officials made independently: when they sat down to pick a clock, they picked three weeks to a month and put an audit trail behind it.

Where the footage lives

DHI ships plate recognition. Footage stays on a node at the site, so the people who decide how long it is kept are the people who own the disk.

A retention clock is a simple promise to keep when the owner of the data also owns the storage. It is a harder one to audit when the index lives in someone else's cloud and the clock is a setting in someone else's console.

What is the longest retention number in your own camera policy, and who chose it?

Sources

• CT News Junkie, "Several New Laws Take Effect Oct. 1 In Connecticut," September 23, 2026
• Missouri Department of Public Safety, "Department of Public Safety provides automated license plate reader guidance to Missouri law enforcement agencies," September 30, 2026: dps.mo.gov
• Recording Law, ALPR laws by state (Connecticut Public Act 26-14, Missouri Executive Order 26-18)
• KY3, "Missouri issues new automated license plate reader guidance for law enforcement," October 1, 2026