The Oneonta Police Department ran searches of its fixed-location automatic license plate reader data at least 50 times in September.
The city operates six Motorola Solutions automatic license plate readers at points of ingress and egress to the city, which take photos of every vehicle that passes. The data is maintained for 90 days and accessible in a searchable database, according to prior statements from OPD and city officials.
An audit log of the use obtained by The Daily Star via a Freedom of Information Law request showed two queries where the searching officer offered only some variation of “investigation” as the reason for the search. The log provided associated case numbers for each instance; those records were not immediately available and may be exempt from disclosure under FOIL.
OPD did not return a request for comment Monday.
Recorded reasons for other searches included stolen vehicle, hit and run, burglary and assault investigations.
The log showed that six users within the department conducted searches in the period. Some queries yielded zero or a few results, others hundreds or thousands. Officers searched by full plate numbers, partial ones and vehicle makes, models and colors.
OPD maintains memorandums of understanding with federal, state and local law enforcements agencies for sharing the data. Those documents, also obtained via FOIL, state that ALPR data may be used only for law enforcement purposes, and shared with or released to authorized personnel with approved login credentials and a legitimate need or right to know.
The memorandums do not state that the information cannot be used for immigration enforcement purposes. Some sheriff’s offices with access to OPD ALPR data simultaneously had 287(g) collaboration agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prior to the enactment of a state law temporarily barring them.
Privacy and civil rights advocates, including at the New York Civil Liberties Union, have argued that the city’s ALPR cameras pose a major threat to privacy. They have cited both Motorola Solutions and Axon’s relationship with ICE as one cause for concern. OPD vehicles have five Axon ALPRs, according to Daily Star archives.
OPD Chief Christopher Witzenburg has said that OPD does not share data with ICE and that the technology has enabled the department to more effectively fight crime. He previously told The Daily Star that he believes the department’s current policy governing the technology’s use is a sufficient safeguard against inappropriate use.
The city’s Community Police Board, a volunteer, advisory board tasked in part with assessing OPD data, is expected to discuss the department’s use of ALPRs at its next quarterly meeting Thursday, Oct. 22. The body’s vice chairperson, Gregory Fulkerson, previously said he would like to see a requirement for the city to have a warrant to access the data.
To read OPD’s policy on ALPRs and City Administrator Greg Mattice’s memorandum to the Common Council on the subject, review pages 5 to 10 of the PDF at tinyurl.com/onealprs.