Troy’s City Council has become the first local legislature in New York to approve legislation regulating automatic license plate reader technology, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The council voted 6-0 Thursday, Oct. 1, to approve Local Law No. 3, which would establish standards governing the city’s use of automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, systems and the data they collect. One council member was absent.
The measure comes amid growing scrutiny of ALPR technology and nationwide backlash involving Flock Safety cameras, including protests, efforts to block cameras and incidents in which cameras have been vandalized or destroyed.
Mayor Carmella Mantello has said she plans to veto the legislation. The measure states that it would
take effect 30 days after passage.
What Local Law No. 3 would do
The legislation would limit the city’s use of ALPR systems and captured plate data to specified purposes.
Police could compare plate data with certain law enforcement hot lists or manually entered vehicle information when an officer reasonably believes a vehicle is:
- Registered to someone subject to an outstanding felony arrest warrant
- Unregistered or uninsured
- Carrying a missing person or evidence of a missing person’s location
- Reported stolen
- Related to or involved in a felony, being used in the commission of a felony or used in an escape afterward
The legislation would also allow the technology to be used to enforce restrictions at city parking facilities and control access to secured areas operated by the city.
In the legislation, the council said ALPR systems collect detailed location information about residents and visitors.
"The City Council of the City of Troy finds that automatic license plate reader (ALPR) systems collect detailed location data about the movements of residents and visitors without their knowledge," the legislation states.
"Unregulated use of such systems poses significant risks to privacy, civil liberties, and the freedom of movement. The City Council further finds that clear limits on the use, retention, and sharing of captured plate data are necessary to protect residents from government surveillance and to maintain public trust in City operations."
Data-sharing and retention limits
The legislation would prohibit the city from selling, sharing or otherwise transferring captured plate data outside city government, with limited exceptions.
Those exceptions include a probable-cause warrant or other valid court order, disclosure to criminal defense counsel, discovery in a civil or criminal proceeding and disclosure to the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office for a criminal prosecution. Under the district attorney exception, the office would have to agree not to disclose the data further except under a court order or as otherwise required by law.
The legislation generally would require captured plate data to be permanently deleted within 72 hours.
Data considered potentially necessary as evidence in one of the permitted categories of investigation could be preserved for an additional 18 days with supervisory approval. Further extensions would be permitted based on documented need and command-level approval. Other exceptions cover evidence-preservation requirements, city parking cases, defense-counsel requests and valid court orders.
The measure would require annual public reports detailing camera locations, numbers of scans, hot-list matches, warrants, court orders and instances in which data was retained beyond 72 hours. It also would require the city to retain audit logs of every data query or access for three years.
For the first year after the measure takes effect, the Troy Police Department would be required to report to the council every 90 days about preservation holds and extensions.
NYCLU praises measure but seeks additional restrictions
The NYCLU, which supported the legislation, said Troy law enforcement has used ALPR technology for years without legal guardrails governing the retention and sharing of collected data.
According to the organization, agencies across the country searched Troy’s ALPR data more than 12 million times between 2024 and 2026.
“As automatic license plate reader technology explodes across the country, last night Troy took a meaningful step to protect people’s freedom to live without constant, warrantless surveillance,” NYCLU Senior Privacy and Technology Strategist Daniel Schwarz said in a statement.
“We applaud the Troy City Council, but there are still unacceptable gaps like loosened use restriction standards and the potential for excessive data retention. The NYCLU will be monitoring closely to ensure rigorous oversight and that these loopholes are not abused.”
The organization said it will continue urging state lawmakers in Albany to pass statewide legislation governing automatic license plate reader technology.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Troy passes New York's first local law restricting license plate readers
