5 days ago
Deputies: License plate readers will be used solely for investigations
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — It's been almost a week now since Monroe County announced that the legislature has approved automatic license plate readers for the county.
Thursday, News 8's Adelisa Badzic sat down with Chief Deputy Michael Fowler with the sheriff's office on how these will work.
He said these are strictly for investigations and are not red-light cameras.
'If we need information, if we're looking for a certain vehicle for whatever the reason, a missing person, or maybe a criminal that just drove off from a robbery scene, we go into the computer type in the plate number, and it shows us when and where that picture was taken,' Fowler said.
This would help shave off investigation time and get to an outcome quicker.
He also added that the system does not contain personal information. Also worth noting: the system to search a license plate is monitored closely and secure. Deputies will need a specific reason to search a number and there is an audit trail. Chief Deputy Fowler said they have to enter their reason in the software, which will be recorded, and they plan to follow up to make sure everyone has legitimate purposes.
He said they plan to put in 150 to 160 cameras in about 80 locations throughout the county. The hope to start with hotspots first. Monroe County is one of the last major counties in New York State to get this technology.
'Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, New York City, they've got them all over, and they've had them all over for years, and they've been reaping the success for years,' Fowler said. 'This is a great tool for law enforcement. It solves crimes, and it saves lives.'
On the Senate level: there have been critics against ALPR's. Legislation to address privacy and mass data collection concerns have been brought up several times in Albany.
One bill sponsored by Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a democrat, is in the current session. It states, 'New York currently does not have uniform standards in place governing the use of ALPRs'
If passed, it would create guidelines for the use of plate readers technology.
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