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Columbia Heights PD's ALPR audit found a compliance exception
Independent audit publishedIndependent audit by Lynn Lembcke Consulting, covering May 2024 to May 2025, rated the department "substantially compliant, with exception." The finding: the agency missed the 10-day deadline in Minn. Stat. 13.824 to notify the BCA of its fixed camera locations after the system went live.
What does this mean?
Minn. Stat. 13.824 subd. 6 requires every agency that operates ALPRs to obtain an independent audit at least every two years, checking that data is properly classified, used only for authorized purposes, destroyed on schedule, and that each query had a documented reason, with results due to state officials within 30 days. The audit is one of the few outside checks on how an agency actually runs its cameras. In practice most Minnesota audits report zero findings, often on a boilerplate template that clears nearly every agency it reviews, so a clean audit usually reflects a light-touch review rather than proof the program meets the intent of the statute. FinePrint's ALPR Audit Watch tracks each agency's audit date, auditor, and findings count.
More from Columbia Heights Police Department
- Inactive ·
Columbia Heights PD went inactive (removed Flock)
Went inactiveColumbia Heights PD's Flock deployment was removed and now shows as inactive. The change surfaced on the sharing lists of West Hennepin Public Safety and Blaine PD, which both listed Columbia Heights as inactive.
What does this mean?
The agency's Flock program has stopped, either in part or for good. On the portal that usually shows up as an inactive listing or cameras that no longer report, and behind it is often a contract that was paused, allowed to lapse, or canceled outright. Agencies have ended their Flock relationship after a finished pilot, a budget decision, a council vote, or public pushback, and the same window often brings removals from other agencies' sharing lists. An inactive listing does not mean the cameras or the data are gone. Equipment can stay mounted, and plate reads already collected can stay on file, since Minn. Stat. 13.824 requires destruction within 60 days only for reads not connected to an active criminal investigation.