{
  "version": "3.33",
  "compiled": "2026-10-09",
  "site": "https://stateofwatch.com",
  "claim": {
    "id": "hidta-alpr-hubs",
    "section": 5,
    "title": "HIDTA hubs: a White House drug program collects local plate-reader data, and DEA's national system can draw on it",
    "date": "Jan 2023 – Sept 2026",
    "sort": "2026-09-30",
    "status": "verified",
    "checked": "3.30",
    "note": "Primary records read directly: DEA's privacy impact assessment, both versions of the Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA agreement, Georgia DOT's permit guidance, Glynn County's minutes, Baytown's ordinance, statement of work and budget, and the White House page. Flock's Georgia page is the vendor's own description. Not established: which HIDTAs actually pass data to DEA's system, and how many local agencies feed HIDTA servers nationwide. 404 Media's report (Sept 30, 2026) that cities are \"forced\" is supported in Georgia by the state's permit condition.",
    "category": "data",
    "body": "The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program, a grant program of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, runs regional servers that collect license plate reader data from local police. DEA's December 2024 privacy impact assessment for its National License Plate Reader Program says a HIDTA can serve as a \"regional hub\": \"These contributing agencies transmit their LPR data to servers maintained by regional hubs pursuant to their individual MOUs, which stipulate that this data may be shared with the NLPRP system.\" DEA reported MOUs with \"over 250 law enforcement agencies and hubs\" and keeps plate images 90 days. It named the risk of \"on-going tracking of individual's travels\" and rated it mitigated, saying its coverage is too limited for nationwide tracking.\n\nThe Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA has member agencies send plate data to its Operations Center, where it is kept as long as state law or the agency's policy sets, or otherwise up to two years, at no cost to the agencies. The data is \"not open to the public,\" and only the originating agency may release it in response to a public records request. The 2023 version of its agreement said \"Member Agencies are not required to contribute data to the AC-HIDTA LPR System\"; the 2025 version drops that sentence, though each agency still decides \"within its sole discretion\" which records to share.\n\nGeorgia makes sharing a condition of using state roads. Under Georgia DOT guidance effective Oct 16, 2024, an agency seeking a permit for plate readers on state routes commits \"to ensure data availability, at no additional cost, for all LPR's which might be installed under that permit across the law enforcement community,\" and if the data stops being available, \"Georgia DOT will revoke its permit.\" The guidance does not name HIDTA, but local records show the HIDTA agreement being required: on Nov 20, 2025, Glynn County approved a \"required HIDTA Memorandum of Agreement, required by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), to move forward with permitting for Flock Safety Cameras.\" Brunswick's police department told its commission in September 2026 that the agreement is \"required by GDOT to approve any ALPR cameras on GDOT rights-of-way\" for its Axon cameras, and described sharing only on request; the agreement itself says member agencies' plate data \"will be transmitted to the HLPRIP Operations Center.\" Flock tells Georgia customers they \"must sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HIDTA\"; as of Oct 1, 2026, its page says HIDTA users can see how many matches a plate has in Flock's database, the time of the latest match and the owning agency, but not the reads, locations or images.\n\nIn Texas, the City of Baytown, which \"serves as the Administrator of HIDTA funds\" for Houston HIDTA, authorized up to $306,800 on Nov 13, 2025 for a Houston HIDTA contract with Recruitful LLC \"for creating and maintaining an LPR database.\" The statement of work names the project \"National License Plate Reader Platform - Phase 5.0\" and moves it from a mainframe to a government cloud, keeping integrations with Flock and other sources working. In April 2026 the White House named Houston HIDTA its HIDTA of the Year, citing its \"automated license plate reader platform that brings together all levels of law enforcement.\"",
    "quotes": [
      {
        "text": "These contributing agencies transmit their LPR data to servers maintained by regional hubs pursuant to their individual MOUs, which stipulate that this data may be shared with the NLPRP system.",
        "from": "DEA privacy impact assessment, National License Plate Reader Program (Dec. 20, 2024)"
      }
    ],
    "sources": [
      {
        "label": "DEA, Privacy Impact Assessment for the National License Plate Reader Program and DEA Special Intelligence Link (Dec. 20, 2024)",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "hidta-dea-nlprp-pia"
      },
      {
        "label": "Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA, Memorandum of Understanding (Jan. 31, 2023), via MuckRock",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "hidta-ac-mou"
      },
      {
        "label": "City of Baytown, Ordinance No. 16,319 and statement of work (Nov. 13, 2025)",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "hidta-baytown-ordinance"
      },
      {
        "label": "White House, ONDCP honors law enforcement (Apr. 6, 2026)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/04/ondcp-honors-law-enforcements-role-in-fighting-against-drug-trafficking/"
      },
      {
        "label": "Atlanta-Carolinas HIDTA, HIDTA License Plate Reader Integration Project MOU (2025), via Glynn County",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "hidta-ac-mou-2025"
      },
      {
        "label": "Georgia DOT, License Plate Reader Guidance (effective Oct. 16, 2024)",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "gdot-lpr-guidance"
      },
      {
        "label": "Glynn County Board of Commissioners, minutes (Nov. 20, 2025)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://glynncounty.granicus.com/MinutesViewer.php?clip_id=635&doc_id=0eee1d7d-c713-11f0-a7da-005056a89546&view_id=1"
      },
      {
        "label": "City of Brunswick, commission agenda packet with HIDTA agreement (Sept. 16, 2026)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://www.brunswickga.org/media/18946"
      },
      {
        "label": "City of Baytown, FY2021-22 Adopted Budget (HIDTA fund)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://www.baytown.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/139"
      },
      {
        "label": "Flock Safety, Georgia DOT LPR camera sharing process (vendor page, as of Oct. 1, 2026)",
        "url": "https://www.flocksafety.com/gdot"
      },
      {
        "label": "404 Media, Sept 30, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.404media.co/how-cities-are-forced-to-funnel-license-plate-data-to-a-massive-federal-surveillance-program-hidta/"
      }
    ],
    "places": [],
    "url": "https://stateofwatch.com/claims/hidta-alpr-hubs"
  }
}