ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Automated license plate readers are raising questions from state officials about privacy and regulation.
Some of the cameras are public, while others are run by private companies, and they take photos of every car that passes by, including the News10NBC car driven by Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean.
“I am driving on Empire Boulevard and as soon as I reach Plank Road, automated cameras are going to record this news car,” Brean said.
The cameras are set up on utility poles and their field of view is displayed on a website that tracks their locations. State lawmakers heard testimony from the New York State Attorney General’s Office about the risks of automated license plate readers, known as ALPRs.
“Without adequate regulation, ALPRs could be used to track and investigate immigrants, lawful protesters, or people seeking reproductive or gender-affirming health care, to name but a few risks,” Tyler Nims of the Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office at the NYS Attorney General’s Office said.
The debate
Lawmakers are debating what laws should control how the images are used, who can see them and how long they can be stored. New Hampshire law allows images to be kept for three minutes, while New Jersey law allows three years.
“How would an innocent citizen ever discover that they were being tracked in the first place?” Hon. Ari Brown of Nassau County said.
“I think the answer is there’s no way,” Nims said.
Investigative tool
The Suffolk County district attorney told lawmakers the cameras only capture what can be seen in public, such as the make, model and license plate of a car.
“These are merely investigative tools, not a system of unlimited surveillance,” Ray Tierney, Suffolk County district attorney, said. “They do no record video, use facial recognition or drivers or passengers. I too would be concerned with such technology. But that isn’t APLR.”
Officials said cameras have helped find missing children and stolen cars. Brean reported that a high-speed chase of a stolen utility truck in July started when cameras on Penfield Road captured the stolen plates.
The driver was arrested on Lyell Avenue, and the head of the Sheriff’s Association told the panel about a local case where a plate reader captured a stolen car with three people inside.
“Two were wanted by Rochester police on warrants and the third was a parole absconder,” Sheriff Craig Apple of Albany County said.
How MCSO handles the data
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has 61 active ALPR locations, with a base retention of one year for images and video. If the image or video becomes evidence, it is kept for the life of the case.
The hearing was run by the consumer protection committee, and lawmakers will begin debating and voting on potential laws in January. Today’s hearing focused only on license plate readers on utility poles and police cars, not on automated cameras for red lights, speeding or school bus violations.
News10NBC will continue to follow developments as lawmakers consider new regulations.
‘There’s no way’; New York Attorney General’s Office says drivers may not know when license plate readers track them WHEC.com.
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