Parking Data Policy

Parking License Plate Data Policy


City of Eugene Parking Services uses License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology to improve existing monitoring, enforcement, and management of parking in the City of Eugene. This pertains to permitted or hourly parking in garages, metered parking zones, time limited controlled free parking zones, as well as in residential permit areas, during event or special parking, and delivery/moving/supplemental other permitted uses as regulated by the City of Eugene. The License Plate Data (LPD) collected by the City of Eugene’s LPR system is to automate parking access control and parking enforcement, and to provide additional value with non-LPD gathering mapping scans of areas to be able to inventory parking utilization and turnover rates in a given geographical zone. This automation of existing processes provides an efficient, faster, reliable automation of permit verification and parking zone enforcement. It will enable the City to issue “virtual” electronic permits eliminating the need for printed and mailed permits. The data will also be used for Eugene’s Parking and Transportation policy processes.


A License Plate Recognition (LPR) system captures vehicle license plate data (LPD) and relays that data converted to numeric form to a searchable computerized database of information. The image captured by the cameras (or manually entered if the system flags the operator the scan was not successful) will then be used by Parking Services to aid in the permit verification and parking enforcement procedures currently described in Chapter 5 of the City of Eugene Code, in addition to providing non-LPD mapping and context pertaining to parking turn over and occupancy information from street to street and within designated zones. An LPR reader scans and photographs a license plate on either the front or rear of the vehicle (depending on the orientation of the vehicle and location parked). The scope of the photograph is the license plate area, and a second image is taken of the surrounding area for context. When an image is captured, the LPR system records the global positioning system coordinates and the date and time the image was taken. Secondary processing of the information captured generates an alphanumeric version of the license plate number which is stored with the image.


Agency Sharing or Transfer of LPR Data 

Any LPD may be shared with law enforcement if criteria are met for official law enforcement purposes. Such a request will be forwarded to the Parking Director in writing including the agency, name of requestor, rank (Sergeant or above), and business purpose of the request.


Data Retention, Sharing, and Transfer

  • Non-Citation license plate recognition system data and contextual elements will be retained for 30 days. After 30 days, the information will be deleted.
  • Citation issued license plate recognition system data and contextual elements will be retained for life of the active citation.
  • License plate data may be shared with law enforcement if criteria are met for official law enforcement purposes. Such a request will be forwarded to the Parking Director in writing including the agency, name of requestor, rank (Sergeant or above), and business purpose of the request.
  • Public Records request of license plate data and associated license plate recognition system information is handled through the City of Eugene’s City Recorder’s public records request process.
  • Parking occupancy information is collected for on and off-street parking systems. The information collected does not contain LPD or LPR related information. The occupancy data is whether a vehicle is observed parked on the street or not. The information is used for parking and transportation planning purposes.


For additional questions or comments, please contact the Parking Director at 541-682-5729.