Advocates press Binghamton council for strict retention, public oversight and limits on data sharing

A lengthy statement read into the record on behalf of County Legislator Tim Ames urged the city to adopt stringent limits on ALPR data retention and sharing. "Before this or any ALPR contract is renewed ... I am calling for the following protections written into law: 1, a hard 48 hour retention cap ... 2, no sale, sharing or 3rd party access ... 4, a quarterly public oversight panel," the read statement said. The clerk prefaced the reading as comments submitted for the committee record.

Quincy Blair of NYU's Policing Project outlined similar governance expectations, including restrictions on tracking historical vehicle movements, warrant requirements for prolonged queries and publicly available data-sharing agreements. Blair warned that hot lists and stale entries have produced wrongful stops and cited recent cases where ALPR data was misused or publicly indexed. "There should also be rules around how long agencies retain that historical data," Blair said, adding the project’s model guidance recommends a 30-day default but notes jurisdictions sometimes set shorter windows.

Police officials and detectives urged caution about very short retention windows, arguing that some serious investigations (assaults, human trafficking) have clearance timelines that can exceed weeks. Captain Dan Flanders and other officers said the detective bureau perceives a 30-day retention as a practical minimum for many investigations. Council members requested that police provide empirical audits and concrete metrics on how often longer retention materially aids investigations before adopting stricter statutory caps.