Great Barrington's automatic license plate reader (ALPR) system has been up and running for about 18 months.
The town's former police chief Paul Storti submitted the initial grant application to acquire the system in 2023 to the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. It was signed off on by then-Town Manager Mark Pruhenski, who left the role at the end of 2024. Storti retired earlier this year. Since then, Adam Carlotto has served as interim chief.
Great Barrington received a $27,940.34 Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant from the state on Nov. 11, 2023. The funding was to cover:
-$5,824 in overtime pay to give 10 officers 11 hours of training over two courses in how to use the ALPR cameras
-$18,446.34 for two Hoffman/Neology ALPR kits to connect to state police for the purpose of tracking drug traffickers “that use South County as a main entry and exit point”
-$3,680 in patrol tactics training
Per public documents, the town signed a one-year, $13,919.91 contract with Motorola beginning Dec. 9, 2025, to run a three-camera system: one at the police station on Main Street, another on Main Street, and one on Stockbridge Road.
Great Barrington residents have expressed concerns about privacy, constitutional rights, and the “Big Brother” nature of the cameras. No one approached with questions about the license plate readers initially knew the tech was actively being used.
Interim Chief Carlotto says that while the cameras record the plates of passing cars, they are not automatically entered into any system.
“A person has to actually type the plate in and the reason why it's in there, whether it be missing person, stolen motor vehicle, narcotics investigation, and that portion is in the entry," he told WAMC.
This month, law enforcement was actively reviewing 44 plates with the Great Barrington cameras.
Carlotto said town police does not share the information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Internally, the department's command staff and two officers assigned to an investigation can access the ALPR system. It’s shared with 54 other agencies in the Northeast.
“We're not just sharing, but we're receiving the information too," said the interim chief. "Obviously, if we put it in a plate here in Great Barrington that's specific to us, whether it's a person we're looking for, and they wind up in New York or down in Connecticut, the sharing is a two-way street. So, that’s why it’s important for us.”
Carlotto said the cameras are showing results.
“We've assisted with two homicide investigations through the LPR readers," he said. "We did solve a decent [breaking and entering] case that probably wouldn't have been solved without them, and recovered a stolen motor vehicle.”
The way police departments are handling the information collected by the cameras has been an issue in municipalities across the WAMC listening area. Debate has been particularly fierce in Troy, New York, where police have conducted an audit of how the city's Flock Safety ALPR cameras have been used.
That's as the city council mulls legislation that would regulate how long the department can store data from the cameras — the all-Democratic council wants to limit data storage to two days, while the city's Republican mayor and its police chief have argued for the need to keep the data for longer.
There has been no public conversation or referendum about the use of the technology, nor did the selectboard vote to approve its installation in Great Barrington. Carlotto said, when the grant funding currently paying for the system dries up, it’s inevitable that voters will ultimately have the final call on whether or not to continue its use.
“At some point, the subscription will have to be re-upped, and that's a conversation to have," he said. "Then, at that point, if there is any capacity to pay for it, which there isn't currently, and I think again with a lot of the attention right now, I think that's going to be up for debate, for sure. What does the community think is important, and what do they want to pay for?”
