State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman has warned that many Israeli local authorities are using enforcement cameras for parking and bus-lane violations in ways that may violate privacy and procurement rules. The report, published last week, says technology has transformed municipal traffic enforcement, but the bureaucratic process around it has become sloppy and amateurish.
According to the findings, at least one large Israeli authority kept image quality high enough to identify innocent bystanders, while another continued recording public space even after it stopped using the cameras for enforcement. The report said the collection of visual information from public spaces poses a real risk to citizens' privacy and therefore requires careful, proportionate, and limited use.
The comptroller also described serious chaos in municipal tenders. Many medium and small authorities, unlike larger cities that tend to be stricter, buy systems without a tender or without proper quality and oversight checks. The report says some tenders are drafted carelessly, opening the door to companies that do not meet minimum requirements, including privacy protection, image blurring, data retention, and proper system management.
The Privacy Protection Authority has recently ruled that cameras using LPR license-plate recognition technology are prohibited because they can track citizens and retain information about them. Despite that ban, many cities still use such services. The report says the result may be lawsuits and the cancellation of hundreds or thousands of parking fines. To prevent this, the Interior Ministry and Transport Ministry are urged to set a single standard for 2026, while municipalities are told to tighten tender requirements and system checks. Hila Freiman Kriv, cofounder and chair of Cypher Place, was identified as a supplier of traffic and parking enforcement systems.
