Residents urge town limits or review of license-plate readers, citing privacy concerns

Robin Mowmeier, a Greece resident, told the Town Board during the public forum that the town's use of license-plate readers amounts to "mass surveillance" and urged officials to give residents a say in any expansion.

"LPRs track and store the movements of every vehicle, yours and mine included, without a warrant, reasonable suspicion, or public consent," Mowmeier said. She said the town's police policy "426" stores images for five years and warned that modern systems can capture vehicle make, model and color and can be combined with other tools to reconstruct routines.

Mowmeier asked the board for three specific items: how many cameras are currently installed, where they are located, and whether the town has performed a return-on-investment or security review. Brendan Bolson, another resident, asked follow-up technical questions about how the data are stored and how long the town retains it, and raised concerns about potential security vulnerabilities in some LPR vendor systems.

The board did not record staff responses on camera counts or retention practices in the transcript. Mowmeier referenced a pending lawsuit involving LPR use in Norfolk, Va., and framed her remarks around Fourth Amendment privacy concerns. No formal action was taken during the meeting; the matter was raised during public comment for the board's consideration.

The town will later review agenda items; residents asked that the board either restrict unilateral deployment by police or solicit public input before further expansion of the technology.