Otsego deputy: Plate reader helps combat crime

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August 17, 2012

Otsego deputy: Plate reader helps combat crime

BY JOE MAHONEY Staff Writer The Daily Star Fri Aug 17, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

COOPERSTOWN -- Each afternoon Otsego County Sheriff's Deputy John Imperato goes on duty, he manually updates the computer linked to the automatic license-plate reader (ALPR) mounted to the roof of the SUV cruiser he drives with the latest "hot list."

With the reader -- a scanning device that instantly zooms in on nearby license plates -- and the data it has been fed, Imperato will get a "hit" if a vehicle or its plates have been listed as stolen.

He'll also get a hit if the vehicle's registration has been suspended or revoked. There would be an alarm if the car has been associated on the freshened hot list with an Amber alert -- or report of a missing minor. If the vehicle has been linked to anyone on a terrorist watch list or wanted as a fugitive, the deputy would be similarly alerted.

If the vehicle has a clean slate in terms of such lists culled from police databases, then, Imperato said, the gadget would provide him with no information other than the image of the plate on his monitor.

"If you're looking for somebody for an incident that just happened, then you can plug that plate in yourself, and if you hit on that plate it will set an alarm off on that," Imperato said. "So there are a lot of things it can tell you besides whether the vehicle has a suspended registration."

Sheriff Richard Devlin said his department's lone license-plate reader is one of three being used by law enforcement agencies in Otsego County. Oneonta police and the Cooperstown Village police also each have an ALPR device.

"It's a very useful tool for us," said Devlin, noting his department was able to obtain one of the devices through a grant of $25,000 from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.

While police agencies across the nation have been embracing the technology, the American Civil Liberties Union and its New York branch, the NYCLU, claim they pose a threat to citizens' right to an expectation of privacy and being free of what the ACLU lawyers say is questionable surveillance.

"The core issue is: what kind of data is being collected and what is it being used for?" said Barrie Gewanter, a lawyer with the NYCLU's central New York branch. "We should not be retaining that data or allowing law enforcement to have access to it for purposes it wasn't intended for."

The readers collect images of license plates, which are time- and GPS-stamped and stored. A spokeswoman for the Division of Criminal Justice Services said her agency leaves it up to the departments to determine how long they should store the data. The agency, over the past seven years, has awarded $7.9 million to police agencies statewide to help them acquire the readers.

The NYCLU said it is pressing the state agency to release information that will explain how the devices are being used to "track and record New Yorkers' movements." Civil liberties lawyers in more than 30 other states are seeking similar information from their state governments.

"The American people have a right to know whether our police departments are using these tools in a limited and responsible manner, or whether they are keeping records of our movements for months or years for no good reason," Catherine Crump, staff lawyer with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, said in a statement.

Gewanter, asked by The Daily Star if she could cite any instances in New York where police have misused the information obtained by ALPRs, said: "I really can't comment on that. But whether it is being misused or not, you have the right to be left alone and not be placed under surveillance by law enforcement unless you're doing something wrong."

She argued the use of the readers was roughly equivalent to the police taking photographs of everyone at a public park and then using facial recognition software to run the faces of those people against existing data bases containing criminal justice information.

However, John Grebert, executive director of the New York State Chiefs of Police Association, said the privacy concerns being voiced by the ACLU and its chapters are "being blown way out of proportion."

"The advantages in having these readers far outweigh the disadvantages," said Grebert, suggesting the devices help police protect their communities and keep roadways safe.

In some places, he said, the technology is identifying so many scofflaws -- ranging from people who owe fine money to those wanted for serious crimes -- that police have to prioritize their responses so they can spend their time tackling cases that most imperil public safety.

"The number of stolen cars that can be recovered in a short period of time is pretty amazing," he said.

Officials said the readers have also been instrumental in helping police capture persons suspected of having committed violent crimes, including a man who allegedly carried out an arson murder in upstate New York.

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the NYCLU said her organization has not yet decided to file a lawsuit to stop the use of the devices in the state. She said the next step will depend on the information her group expects to receive from the Division of Criminal Justice Services. But she acknowledged that a lawsuit or promoting legislation restricting use of the readers are among the potential options.

In Cooperstown, Imperato said he often encounters citizens who ask him if the reader mounted on his cruiser is a camera. He said he takes the time to explain to those people how the reader functions.

"No one so far has complained about it," he said.