SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — License plate readers are one step closer to being installed at BART parking lots now that the agency’s board of directors approved a policy regulating terms of use for the technology.

“This has been a long time coming. Actually it has been too long coming,” BART board member John McPartland.

BART Police Chief Carlos Rojas says the transit agency will start a pilot project to test the system using four automated license plate readers that they have not used until now.

“We will be looking to install the four that we have and then we will be coming back to the board with statistical information on how useful they have been for us,” the police chief said. “We really want to make it safer for our riders leaving their vehicles on our property for extended periods of time.”

Community input helped to establish a 30-day retention policy for information collected by the plate readers. However during that time frame other law enforcement agencies will have access to that same information.

“Law enforcement agencies will have access to it as long as they have a right to know and the need to know from a legal standpoint and it will not involve any kind of immigration enforcement,” Chief Rojas said.

Some BART passengers were pleased about the extra precautions.

“There’s just things that go on and I would rather be on the safe side than worry about somebody knowing I was here,” one rider said.

“I think the more precautions we can take to make us safer is better, I agree that we are kind of losing of freedom a little bit but sometimes it is necessary to ensure the safety of everybody,” said another rider.

According to BART police, in 2018 BART parking lots experienced 930 auto burglaries, 354 auto thefts and 102 catalytic converter thefts.

Police are hoping the new technology will help decrease those numbers when the plate readers are installed at all BART’s 48-parking lots later this year.

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