HELENA — License plate readers are largely banned in Montana, and viewer Rosemary asked what that means when it comes to enforcing parking in downtown Helena.
According to the Montana Code Annotated, the license plate reader ban has some exceptions, including one that allows incorporated cities or towns to use a license plate reader “in a regulated parking system, but only to identify a vehicle’s location and license plate number to enforce parking restrictions.”
The City of Helena Parking Division got a license plate reader in mid-December, although it is not being used to issue citations yet.
“We’re trying to tweak it so that it’s actually dialed in and reading everything that we want it to,” City of Helena Transportation Systems director David Knoepke said.
(Watch the video to learn more about how parking is enforced in Helena)
City parking control officers are currently still manually checking plate numbers for parking enforcement. The license plate reader will eliminate that step of a person individually entering plate numbers.
The license plate reader will read a plate number, and then run it against a database of plates entered at paid parking kiosks and through the Passport Parking app, and city parking permits. The license plate reader can also virtually “chalk” tires.
“If you have a permit or you’ve paid to park, then it doesn’t do anything,” Knoepke said. “If you haven’t, it dings, and they can stop and issue you a citation.”
Knoepke said the license plate reader only read numbers, not the bull head on standard Montana license plates. That could possibly lead to confusion between plates, like a 5-county plate from Lewis and Clark County and a 51-county plate from Jefferson County, but Knoepke said that has not happened during testing of the license plate reader, and he said the city has alerted the company they got the reader from to the possible issue.
“They said it shouldn’t be a thing, but if it is, they’re willing to calibrate or do whatever we need to do,” Knoepke said.
If you do get a ticket in error, you can contest it online.
The city hopes to have the plate reader in use to enforce parking rules within the next month.
