Missouri ALPR and AI facial-recognition safeguards (Executive Order 26-18)
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Missouri ALPR safeguards
United States — Missouri
Executive order; separate DPS best-practices guide
Executive Order 26-18[1]
Signed September 16, 2026; executive order, with future codification directed[1]
Immediately on September 16, 2026; until amended, superseded or rescinded[1]
November 4, 2026 — full order, current order index and full ten-page guidance
Overview and status
Missouri Executive Order 26-18 sets safeguards for automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems, including a restriction on integrating AI facial recognition to automatically screen people's faces. Governor Mike Kehoe signed the order on September 16, 2026, with immediate effect. It directs covered state bodies and local law-enforcement entities receiving state funding and using ALPR technology to implement minimum standards, to the greatest extent permissible under applicable law, pending permanent legislation.[1]
The order says it remains effective until amended, superseded or rescinded by a subsequent order or legislation. The Secretary of State's 2026 order index, checked November 4, lists EO 26-18 without a rescission annotation. The November 2 Missouri Register also publishes the order; that later publication does not make November 2 its issuance or effective date.[1][2][3]
AI restriction and authorized purposes
The facial-recognition provision prohibits a covered entity from permitting AI facial-recognition capabilities or software to be integrated with ALPR systems to automatically screen individuals' faces. It addresses that integration and use, rather than every form of facial recognition or every privately operated camera. ALPR access is restricted to the administration of criminal justice, as defined in the referenced Missouri statute, and bona fide lifesaving efforts.[1]
Data retention and vendor safeguards
The order requires deletion of captured plate and vehicle images within 30 days. The exception requires a direct link to a specific active criminal investigation or active life-safety emergency. Retention must then be strictly necessary to advance that investigation or otherwise comply with a court order. Government agencies retain exclusive ownership of their ALPR data, metadata and imagery. Covered entities must prohibit vendors and contractors from accessing, selling, sharing, commercializing or otherwise using Missouri-generated data for non-law-enforcement purposes, and obtain contractual vendor certification concerning deletion.[1]
Accountability and proposed legislation
Every query must record the user's identity and a valid active case number or specific law-enforcement justification. Personal use, stalking, unauthorized sharing and non-criminal-justice hot-list additions trigger the order's disciplinary and reporting provisions, with criminal referral under the existing referenced statute where appropriate.[1]
The order directs the Department of Public Safety to develop controls and collaborate on proposed legislation covering the safeguards, audits, a standalone misuse offence and withholding state grants for noncompliance. That direction to develop a legislative proposal does not itself establish the proposed standalone offence or prove that a bill has been enacted.[1]
September 30 best-practices guidance
DPS published its ten-page Automated License Plate Reader Best Practices Guide on September 30. The guide describes itself as a reference for agencies developing or evaluating ALPR programmes, rather than a statement of Missouri law or legal advice; recommendations must be adapted to applicable law, records schedules, contracts and agency circumstances.[4][5]
Its recommendations include individual accounts and documented search purposes, independent verification of alerts before enforcement, proportionate historical searching, retention and legal-hold controls, vendor restrictions, training and audit-log review at least monthly. It repeats the order's facial-recognition integration restriction. These recommendations and their stated scope should be distinguished from the executive order's own minimum standards.[4]
Related coverage
- Missouri AI Law
- Government use and procurement
- Transparency and data protection
- Separate federal plate-reader accountability proposal
- Original November 3 news coverage
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Missouri Secretary of State, Executive Order 26-18, complete text, signed September 16, 2026.
- ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, Governor's Executive Orders 2026, checked November 4, 2026.
- ↑ Missouri Register, volume 51, number 21, November 2, 2026, EO 26-18 at printed pages 1410–1412 and executive-order index.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Missouri Department of Public Safety, Automated License Plate Reader Best Practices Guide, September 30, 2026, complete ten-page document.
- ↑ DPS, “Department of Public Safety provides automated license plate reader guidance to Missouri law enforcement agencies,” September 30, 2026.