Henderson, North Las Vegas share license plate data

If you've driven through Henderson or North Las Vegas in the past few years, there's a good chance the police know exactly where you were — and when.

The cities have amassed databases with millions of records on drivers' whereabouts, thanks to automated cameras mounted on police cars. And under a new contract, Henderson and North Las Vegas will share those records as well as "hot lists" of tag numbers linked to stolen vehicles, wanted people, missing children and more.

The Henderson City Council approved the contract last week without debate. The North Las Vegas council hasn't scheduled a vote. In the contract, the cities say the sharing will help them recover more stolen vehicles and catch more car thieves.

Combined, the cities have 13 automated license-plate readers that have captured more than 4 million records — more than the number of people in Nevada. North Las Vegas has more than 1 million, and Henderson has at least 3,192,000.

The systems take photos of license plates that are converted to text, which is stored along with when and where each plate was spotted. The plate numbers are automatically run against hot lists. And if a particular car later becomes a target of an investigation, police can go back and see where it was days, weeks or even years in the past.

Henderson keeps the data for five years and North Las Vegas for up to 10.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada says such "warehousing" of information about innocent people poses major privacy concerns.

The cities see no privacy issues.

Asked whether Henderson ever deletes records sooner than five years, city police spokeswoman Michelle French said in an email: "There has been no reason to purge the data."

— Eric Hartley

Assemblywoman glad to put arrest behind her

Republican Assemblywoman Shelly Shelton said last week she is pleased with the outcome of her felony arrest a year ago when she accidentally carried a handgun into the Clark County Courthouse.

Shelton said the charge was recently dropped after she told the Clark County district attorney's office that she would seek a jury trial if necessary to defend herself against the charge.

Shelton paid $500 and gave up the gun, which she had borrowed to shoot to determine if she wanted to buy it. Shelton did not have a concealed carry permit at the time and so was charged with carrying the weapon without a permit, a felony.

She spent several hours in jail before being released. The case dragged on for a year before it was finally resolved.

Tony Shelton, her husband, wrote about the incident on a message board called Nevada Shooters.

Shelton, a Second Amendment advocate in her first term in the Legislature, said the incident was a learning experience.

"I don't think I did anything wrong," she said. "It's not something I'm hiding from. It will help me understand other people's situations."

Shelton said she did not use her position as a state lawmaker to get the charge dropped.

Shelton said she forgot the gun was in her purse and offered to return it to her car but the court marshals arrested her instead.

She said she understands why she was arrested, but that the incident points out a lack of common sense in such situations, where there was clearly no intent to bring a weapon into the courthouse.

Shelton said she is running for a second term and added that her constituents can make up their own minds about the incident.

"If it is a make-or-break deal for someone, then don't vote for me," she said.

— Sean Whaley

Talking policy, and not

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida sticks to talking about policy as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination.

Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner in the polls, isn't one to dwell deeply on policy matters as he campaigns. He made that clear Thursday while rallying his supporters in Las Vegas at the TI.

Trump said he has drawn up policy papers on issues in response to media inquiries, adding "it's not important to the people because they know I'm going to do the right thing and they know my stance."

Rubio, visiting Friday with the Review-Journal editorial board, didn't directly criticize Trump when asked about the billionaire businessman's comments.

Rubio focused on his own approach instead, calling the election a "generational choice about the very identity of America."

"I'm going to continue to take this election very seriously. I'm going to continue to offer detailed ideas about what we're going to do because people deserve that," Rubio said. "They deserve to hear exactly what you do. They deserve to have that debate over these issues and I think ultimately that's what voters are going to reward. So every candidate can decide to do whatever it is they want to do. I'm going to continue to talk about policy."

— Ben Botkin

— Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900. Find him on Twitter: @seanw801. Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley. Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.