Publisher: KCCI (content corroborated via Axios Des Moines, ACLU of Iowa, KWQC — KCCI itself blocked automated access)
Relevant To: ALPR presentation (August)
Verification Status: Verified
Notes: Des Moines PD is one of Iowa’s least-transparent ALPR operators: it did not respond substantively to a joint ACLU of Iowa / University of Iowa Technology Law Clinic public-records survey of 48 agencies until months after the report’s publication. Des Moines PD’s ALPRs are on patrol vehicles plus two fixed sites. Sgt. Paul Parizek (Des Moines PD) cited a case where cameras helped identify a man secretly filming children in portable toilets as a success story. Statewide ACLU/UI report found ALPRs have expanded rapidly across Iowa (Cedar Rapids has 76 cameras, the most of any surveyed city) with no state law requiring a warrant to search the databases, and documented officers in Sioux City using the racist search term “Traveling Romanian Theft Group.” The Iowa House has since passed a bill (April 2026) requiring local ordinance authorization before ALPR deployment and banning facial recognition pairing.