Bedford police chief offers a close look at license plate readers

Police Chief Melvin Padilla describes the use of license plate readers at the Nov. 4 Town Board meeting. TOWN OF BEDFORD PHOTO 

By JEFF MORRIS 

Amid increasing public scrutiny regarding the use of license plate readers, and especially concerns about privacy issues related to Flock cameras, Bedford Police Chief Melvin Padilla appeared before the Town Board on Nov. 4 to provide an outline of how the town is using the technology.

Padilla emphasized that the town uses automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, but not Flock cameras. Flock has drawn much criticism because of fears it crosses the line on privacy, enabling constant surveillance. Some industry observers maintain that other ALPRs and Flock are essentially the same thing. 

Supervisor Ellen Calves introduced the discussion as a way of responding to a lot of questions she had been getting about cameras and license readers, and an opportunity to update the board on what the town’s policy is, “or if there are changes being made to that policy.” She hoped it would help everyone understand what issues concern people the most, and learn what the value of license plate readers is to the police department and to safety in the community.

‘Important tool’

Padilla referred to plate readers as an “important tool for our police department.”

He said he believed in continually evaluating available technology that can make the police force “much more efficient in the investigation process.” Using a needle-in-a-haystack analogy, he described it as reducing the size of the haystack that the needle is in. He said old school police investigative work is still required, but technology helps. 

But, Padilla said, the privacy concerns that communities have expressed are obviously real, “and it’s important for us as a police department, us as a municipality, to ensure our community of proper use of this important tool.”

The nationwide controversy about Flock, he said, highlights the importance of communicating the safeguards the department has in place.

“We don’t use Flock at all,” Padilla said — the system or their technology. “Anything about Flock is not here within the town.” 

He said they use two separate technologies, one being a kind of an in-house system that the Westchester County Police oversees, maintains and allows access to. In addition to that, he said, they use Motorola/Vigilant systems. 

Department policy

Padilla said it has been common practice for agencies to use existing information sharing and dissemination policies as a blanket to encompass the information that would be gathered by this type of technology. 

“But the increased public concern nationwide has shown a real need to have a separate independent policy so that it’s easy to observe and understand what the system is, how we use it, and what safeguards are in place,” Padilla said. “So over the last few weeks or months, that’s what we’ve been putting together” — a separate, independent, and updated “license plate reader general order.” 

The purpose of the policy, Padilla said, is to provide guidance for the capture, storage and use of digital data obtained through ALPR technology.

“It’s a policy of Bedford Police Department to utilize ALPR technology to capture and access digital license plate data and images while recognizing the established privacy rights of our citizens and the public,” he said. And because such data may contain confidential information, it is not open to public review. 

Limits on use

Padilla was asked if that meant it was not “FOIL-able.” He said that would be at the direction of counsel, but just as with any FOIL-able piece of information, there may be portions that are not. Town Attorney Eric Gordon weighed in, saying some parts may be subject to exemptions for privacy and other issues, and Calves added that in a civil case, someone cannot simply FOIL a license plate. 

Padilla noted that only someone engaged in law enforcement activity is authorized to look at the data, and that only seven members of the department, including himself, have access to the system. And, he said, not only are those six others trained in how to properly use it, but every single time they access any type of read, the system logs name, date, time, everything associated, and special separate credentials for each individual that has access.

While the system is collecting data 24/7, Padilla said, it doesn’t send anything or identify people.

“The only time that information will be gathered from these devices is when one of our investigators inputs a certain plate,” he said, “and in order to do that, they also have to put in why they’re accessing this information” — what the legitimate law enforcement purpose is specific to the search. That information can be seen on a monthly and quarterly basis, and Padilla said they are able to identify any patterns or any kind of suspicious activity, or if there is information missing about justification for looking for a particular plate.

Sharing of data

Padilla said the effectiveness of an LPR system is the collaboration and sharing of information among agencies, because criminal activity is very rarely localized, and is often regional.

He said they might be alerted to be able to either prevent or apprehend individuals from other municipalities that are experiencing things like burglary patterns and vehicle theft; and in addition to that, “things like Amber Alerts, abducted children, Silver Alerts for at-risk adults, wanted vehicles, stolen license plates, missing persons, warrants, this type of thing” they will be alerted if a vehicle in question enters their territory.

Board members had concerns about sharing data with other municipalities that might not have controls that are as stringent; Padilla could only say that if inappropriate use was discovered, such sharing would cease.

Ongoing use

There was additional discussion of limitations on storing data in the cloud, and the effect of future developments incorporating AI. Padilla assured everyone that ALPR does not include facial recognition, though he noted that there are many businesses and others in town that already use that technology. 

He provided multiple examples of crimes that had been solved or prevented through the use of ALPR. Calves suggested that figures about use of the system be included in the police department’s annual report. She asked what the process would be for adopting the policy that Padilla has been working on. He said he has received some feedback of late that will be incorporated in the draft and shared with the board. If there are any changes or additions that the board wants to see, said Padilla, they can make that happen, but he hopes to be able to provide them with a completed policy.