USA TODAY reported that Troy's City Council voted 6-0 on Thursday, Oct. 1, to approve Local Law No. 3, which sets standards for the city's license plate readers and the data they collect. One council member was absent.
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) says Troy is the first local legislature in New York to approve a law regulating automatic license plate readers.
What is Local Law No. 3?
The law would limit the city's use of plate readers and plate data to specific purposes. Police could compare plate data with certain hot lists or manually entered vehicle information when an officer reasonably believes a vehicle is:
- Registered to someone with an outstanding felony arrest warrant
- Unregistered or uninsured
- Carrying a missing person, or evidence of where a missing person is
- Reported stolen
- Related to or used in a felony, or used in an escape afterward
The law would also let the city use the readers to enforce restrictions at city parking facilities and to control access to secured city areas.
The council says the systems "collect detailed location data about the movements of residents and visitors without their knowledge."
Who could the city share plate data with?
The law would bar the city from selling, sharing or otherwise transferring plate data outside city government, with limited exceptions. Those include a probable-cause warrant or other valid court order, criminal defense counsel, discovery in a civil or criminal case, and the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office for a criminal prosecution.
How long would Troy keep plate data?
Plate data would generally have to be permanently deleted within 72 hours. Data that could be needed as evidence in a permitted investigation could be kept for an extra 18 days with supervisory approval. Further extensions would need documented need and command-level approval.
The law would also require:
- Annual public reports on camera locations, number of scans, hot-list matches, warrants, court orders, and data kept beyond 72 hours
- Audit logs of every data query or access, kept for three years
- Reports from the Troy Police Department to the council every 90 days during the first year
What do the mayor and the NYCLU say?
Mayor Carmella Mantello has said she plans to veto the legislation. The law would take effect 30 days after passage.
The NYCLU supported the measure but wants more. Its Senior Privacy and Technology Strategist, Daniel Schwarz, called the law a "meaningful step" and said there are "unacceptable gaps" such as loosened use restrictions and the potential for excessive data retention. The NYCLU says agencies across the country searched Troy's plate data more than 12 million times between 2024 and 2026. It will keep pressing lawmakers in Albany for a statewide law.
What changes for drivers?
If the law takes effect, Troy's own use of plate readers would be limited to the purposes listed above, and its plate data would be deleted within 72 hours unless one of the exceptions applies. The city would also have to publish camera locations each year.
USA TODAY does not say how many plate readers Troy has or where they are. To see where cameras are near you, use the camera map. For the basics, read how plate readers work.
The mayor has said she plans to veto the measure, so whether it takes effect is still open.