NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh has dozens of stationary license plate readers and is aiming to install a total of 88.
Dozens of city residents have expressed concern about their use and potential misuse, given conduct by the US Department of Justice and its ICE agency behavior.
Police Chief Branden Rola told the city council Thursday night that there are several safeguards that protect photographs taken by the cameras and keep them out of the hands of ICE. (Listen to Chief Rola’s presentation)
Several of the council members said they are taking the concerns of the public into consideration before they vote on extending the Flock brand system at their next session Monday night.
Among those was Councilman Ronald Zorilla who said the federal government is eroding constitutional rights and protections of citizens.
“As a person that doesn’t want to see a country that just continues to become a surveillance state and people get targeted – not saying it happens here locally – I think that as a resident and all the concerns of people that are worried about their constitutional – unreasonable search and seizure, and all these technologies that are new bring up, I think it would help for us to, like, have local policies and share them and obviously don’t give up the secret sauce that you guys have,” Zorilla said.
Chief Rola told the council that while the cameras are an effective tool at investigating crimes, he understands the concerns of city residents.
Comments