The Tracker, the Councilmembers, and Now the ALPRs: Privacy in Reno Is on a Slippery Slope

Back in December 2019 the Reno City Council heard from former Reno Police Chief Jason Soto who was a proponent of ALPRs - there were warnings about the use from David Maass, a visiting professor at University of Nevada, Reno’s Reynolds School of Journalism - the Reno Gazette Journal reported the privacy concerns.

Back in November 2022, the public learned something both unsettling and bizarre: a GPS tracker had been found on Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve’s car. Cue the political fireworks. Fingers were pointed fast, and one private investigator we’d worked with was thrown under the bus—by the mayor herself.

But facts are facts. The Sparks Police Department did their job and cleared him of any involvement in anyway - his name should have never come up. They told the mayor straight: the tracker had been planted by another private investigator—David McNeely—a man Picon has never hired, never spoken to, and frankly, wouldn't recognize if he walked by us.

From there, it’s been a long legal slog in Department 15, with Judge David Hardy stuck with the unenviable task of deciding whether McNeely must cough up the name of whoever hired him.
The court said yes—McNeely must talk. Then came the appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. And now? We wait. Still.

So why are we rehashing all this now? Because everyone, from residents to elected officials, has had an opinion about that tracker. It was the talk of the town. Rightly so—it’s invasive, it’s creepy, and it sparked outrage that eventually led to a 2023 law making it illegal to place a tracking device on someone’s car in Nevada.

That’s why Michael Leonard’s recent article about automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in Somersett caught our eye. ALPRs, if you’re not familiar, are high-tech surveillance cameras that record every license plate that passes by—and store the data.

According to Leonard, the Somersett installed ALPRs at two key locations: Roundabout #4 (connecting Logan Ridge Trail and Somersett Parkway) and near the “guard shack” by Mae Anne. These aren’t private roads. These are public city streets, used not just by Somersett residents, but by everyone in the Canyon Pines neighborhood and others.

Leonard reports, a concerned resident, Mike Demler, tried to raise the alarm. First, he reached out to Councilmember Kathleen Taylor, who promptly ‘narced him out’ by forwarding his private email to the HOA president—without his consent. Buy, hey, why should Taylor protect a constituents concerns.

Demler then reached out to Councilmember Devon Reese. We could have told him that would be a futile attempt. At the time, Reese was an at-large member. Later, he’d win the Ward 5 seat. Demler sent a detailed, 800-word explanation of why ALPRs weren’t just a local gripe—they were a citywide issue. Reese’s response? One line:

"Mike – thanks for the email. We will have to disagree on this one."

When Demler followed up, he learned Reese lives in Somersett. In fact, he called himself a 20-year resident and a 6th-generation Nevadan. His follow-up email was blunt:

"We will not see eye-to-eye on the issue. Why waste your time?"

Counclmember Reese looks at constituents concerns as a “waste of time.” I mean he could have at the very least met with Demler - and discussed the Reno council’s support of ALPRs back in 2019 when former Police Chief Soto presented to the body.

So, here’s our question: If putting a tracker on an elected official’s car was a heinous privacy violation—one that triggered lawsuits, headlines, and new laws—why doesn’t anyone care about ALPRs?

Let’s not forget, Councilmember Reese has made the mayor's tracker story part of his greatest hits—he brings it up constantly. But when it comes to residents being surveilled on public roads? Crickets.

The inconsistency is staggering.

ALPRs are already mounted at nearly every casino in town. Fine. We’ve accepted that Big Brother comes with bright lights and blackjack tables. But shouldn’t there be disclosure? And not in fine print. Shouldn’t the sheriff, the police, the HOAs, the businesses, and public agencies tell residents where these devices are and how the data is being used?

We don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Because if tracking a politician is an invasion of privacy, tracking every driver in and out of a neighborhood should raise a red flag, too. And if Councilmembers like Reese and Taylor want to stay consistent, maybe they should stop dodging residents and start talking about it.

Otherwise, it looks a whole lot like selective outrage—and that’s the real threat to public trust.