Greece Police Department

SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY

The Greece Police Department produced records showing that they had acquired Automatic License Plate Readers but did not produce any policies governing their use.

Automatic license plate readers (“ALPRs”) are devices that can be mounted on police cars or fixed on poles or on the roadside to scan the license plates of all cars passing by. These readers scoop up, at minimum, the license plate number of a car as well as its date, time and location. Without appropriate privacy protections in place, local governments using license plate readers can amass a vast database of the comings and goings of innocent people over a long period of time. They can even share the information with other entities. License plate readers can form the building blocks of a massive government database about New Yorkers, including their political and religious beliefs, daily habits and who they associate with.

While use of this technology is concerning on its face, the use of ALPRs without any policy in place to address privacy concerns and to limit data retention and sharing jeopardizes the civil liberties of countless drivers.

View Documents:
Acquisition of Tactical Equipment from Federal Funds
Acquisition and Use of Automatic License Plate Readers
Acquisition and Use of Body Cameras

Additional Department Policies and Data:

• Department Diversity
• Police Misconduct
• Stops, Field Interviews, Search and Seizure
• Use of Force

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