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Ithaca police defend use of Flock plate readers, agree to revisit data-sharing and transparency questions
Summary
Officials said automated license-plate readers are used primarily as investigative tools and are logged in a transparency portal; board members raised concerns about statewide sharing, retention and third-party access and asked staff to recirculate policies and Q&A and to invite vendor and analyst briefings at a future meeting.
Chief (Ithaca Police Department) defended the department’s use of automated license-plate readers provided by Flock Safety and said the devices are used “as an investigative tool.” He said the system recently aided recovery of a vehicle stolen in Rochester after the plate reader registered the vehicle and officers assigned an incident number.
Board members pressed on who the department shares plate-reader data with, how access is logged and how long data are retained on the department’s transparency portal. One board member asked whether sharing extended to “all jurisdictions within New York State” and the chief replied that some…
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