The Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department is looking for a host for its license plate readers.
The sheriff’s department is seeking approval from the Town of Poestenkill and Stewart’s Shops to install a flock of camera license plate readers that would be monitored by law enforcement .
The cameras provide real-time alerts, video footage, and collect searchable data.
The sheriff’s department proposed the technology to the town council earlier this month.
Republican Councilor Eric Wohlleber said the sheriff’s office told the council they are having trouble getting the state Department of Transportation to approve the placement of the cameras on state-owned land.
In a statement, the DOT said Friday it is “currently not in receipt of a request from Rensselaer County to install traffic cameras in our right of way. NYSDOT does not have jurisdiction over cameras installed on town property.”
The proposed technology would be placed on town property at the intersection of Plank Road and White Church Road.
Wohlleber says the cameras wouldn’t be used to enforce traffic safety. In a post on the town’s Facebook, officials say the cameras would serve only to “identify suspicious vehicles, enhance public safety, and assist in criminal investigations.”
“What they explained to us was that it was a license plate reader, and that's what this camera is, strictly to read license plates, not to be there for any sort of traffic monitoring or traffic infractions, but to be a license plate reader that they would be able to access that information, you know, in basically real time,” Wohlleber said.
A representative for Stewart’s Shops says they are also in the early conversations with the county sheriff’s department about hosting the cameras. Stewart’s says the sheriff’s department wants to place the cameras at four or five locations in the county. No further information on those discussions was available.
While Wohlleber says he supports law enforcement efforts and understands the need for the technology, he says license plate readers don’t seem necessary.
“It seems like a little bit too much government if we're going to put that on a town property to be monitoring, you know, an intersection in town. I mean, we do live in Poestenkill. It's pretty rural. We are out of the way. You know, I just don't know if that's the right location for a license plate reader in a town of Poestenkill,” Wohlleber said. “And to me, it seems like I don't think that the town property is the right spot to have it, let alone on the Town Hall property where we're either gonna have to attach it to our Town Hall sign or put a new pole into our property, which is going to look out of place.”
The Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to several calls from WAMC.
