MILLBROOK — Millbrook Police Chief Keith Dworkin discussed license-plate readers and his department’s use of the technology at the Village Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 14.
The chat was spurred on by recent action by Dutchess County District Attorney Anthony Parisi to dismantle the county’s network of stationary, pole-mounted license-plate reader cameras manufactured by Flock Safety.
Dworkin said the Millbrook Police Department uses vehicle-mounted license-plate readers, commonly known as LPRs, to check a vehicle’s registration status and other violations during traffic stops.
“This technology has been around for 20 years,”Dworkin said, explaining that the LPR captures an image of a vehicle’s license plate and the car, determining instantly whether the car has been stolen, is unregistered, uninsured, or suspended. With that information the officer can run that information through the state database.
Dworkin noted that the LPR is not able to detect information about the operator of the vehicle.
“The information gathered by the LPR is not shared,” Dworkin said. Rather it is stored locally for an indeterminate period, perhaps six months.
“Maybe drafting a local policy is the best way to go,” said Mayor Peter Doro, adding that “Flock” is merely a brand name, leading him to wonder about the difference between a Flock camera and an officer with a license plate reader in a vehicle.
Trustee Julia Bucklin suggested asking the local police officers about their LPR usage.
Recognizing the need for clarity about the technology and its use locally, Doro felt that residents would want to know the difference between Flock and LPR.
Dworkin agreed that a policy on the use of LPR technology would be useful and indicated that he would draft the policy for the Trustees to review.
Tax exemption for disabled veterans
The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to advance a proposed local law granting a property tax exemption to permanently and totally disabled veterans.
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Doro noted that no one who presently resides in the Village of Millbrook would be eligible for the exemption, but there are two residents of Washington expected to qualify.
