By Niko Balkaran
The Town of Newburgh Police Department is considering additional safeguards and access limits for its Flock Safety license plate reader camera system as residents continue to question who can search the system and how that information is used.
The town currently stores camera images for 30 days and spends $175,000 annually on the Flock system. During an Oct. 29 presentation, Police Chief Bruce Campbell said the department was exploring reducing the storage period to seven days, while potentially maintaining the current 30-day period for detectives investigating crimes and was open to an independent audit.
The possible changes come amid concerns about searches conducted by outside law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations and whether the town has sufficient oversight to prevent misuse. However, no policy changes were announced during the presentation.
“I think that we can do both,” Campbell said. “I think that we can put the safeguards in place to protect people’s privacy, while also continuing to make the town of Newburgh safe and bring criminals to justice as quickly as possible.”
The presentation, attended by residents, Town Board members and other elected officials, was intended to explain how the cameras work, their role in police investigations and the safeguards governing their use. Representatives from Flock Safety, the company that provides the technology, also participated.
The cameras photograph passing vehicles and record license plates along with identifying characteristics, such as a vehicle’s make, model and color. Police can search those records to help identify vehicles connected to crimes, locate stolen vehicles or find missing people.
Campbell said the cameras do not use facial recognition or directly provide drivers’ names, addresses or immigration status. Officers must use separate law enforcement databases to obtain information about a vehicle’s registered owner.
Police also highlighted several investigations in which Flock cameras helped identify suspects or vehicles connected to crimes.
Detective Thomas O’Connell described a drive-by shooting near Taft Avenue and South Street in which shots were fired toward children getting off a school bus. Investigators obtained a description of the suspect vehicle and Flock cameras captured it traveling toward and away from the scene.
Police subsequently located the vehicle and arrested the driver and shooter. O’Connell said the shooter was sentenced to nine years in prison.
In another case, O’Connell said the cameras helped investigators identify a vehicle leaving a gas station robbery near the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. The gunman had fired a shot toward a clerk before fleeing. Investigators connected the vehicle to another robbery in the Town of Lloyd and, with assistance from other agencies, located the suspect, who was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in prison.
O’Connell also described investigations involving burglaries, financial scams and a racially motivated stabbing in which license plate readers provided leads that helped police identify suspects.
Residents, however, continued to raise concerns about privacy, outside agency access and oversight.
One central concern was whether other law enforcement agencies could access information collected by the town’s cameras.
Campbell acknowledged that agencies outside the town had searched its camera database, explaining that statewide and nationwide searches can generate entries in numerous departments’ audit logs even when no matching vehicle is found.
He said the town generally restricts outside agencies to searching for specific license plate numbers rather than freely browsing its camera records, with an exception for the Orange County Crime Analysis Center, due to the state grant that funded the system requiring the town to enter into an information-sharing agreement with the center.
Campbell also acknowledged a Homeland Security Investigations search dated Jan. 13, 2025, which he said would be documented in records being released to residents.
When a resident questioned whether that meant the cameras had helped deport someone, Campbell responded, “I don’t know that. I do not know that.”
Campbell did not say whether the search produced a match or resulted in immigration enforcement.
Carl Bach, Flock Safety’s public affairs manager, said that departments can restrict which types of investigations outside agencies may conduct using their cameras. They can allow searches for crimes such as homicides and missing persons, while also limiting access for other offenses.
Residents also pressed Campbell about the department’s oversight of searches conducted through the system.
The chief said officers must use individual login credentials and that searches are recorded in audit logs. He said the department had not found inappropriate use by its officers.
However, residents questioned how the department could determine whether the system was being misused without conducting audits. Campbell said, however, the department had conducted audits and was preparing to release the records.
Campbell said the department was also not opposed to an independent audit.
“I think that maybe that would be in order if it helps people at ease that the officers are not misusing this equipment in any way,” he said.
Flock is also developing a feature slated to be available by the end of the year that would automatically suspend an officer’s account if it detected unusual search activity, according to Bach. The account would remain suspended until a local administrator reviewed the activity.
Another concern involved searches that did not have an associated complaint number.
Campbell said the system initially allowed officers to conduct searches without entering a complaint number, although department training instructed them to include one.
He said the software had since been modified to require that information before a search could proceed. The department had not identified inappropriate use by its officers in connection with the missing complaint numbers, he said.
Campbell said he had spoken with Daniel Schwarz of the New York Civil Liberties Union about the organization’s concerns regarding license plate readers.
According to Campbell, the organization recommends limiting their use to investigations involving felonies, stolen vehicles and missing people, restricting data retention to 48 hours and requiring warrants for out-of-state information sharing.
Campbell said he believed the cameras could be used responsibly for a broader range of investigations and that sharing information between law enforcement agencies was important. However, he acknowledged the need for safeguards.
“I like to believe that all police officers across the country are only going to utilize this equipment in the way that it should be,” Campbell said. “But realistically, that’s probably not. And the more people that have access, the more difficult it’s going to be to control.”
Campbell suggested that requiring a subpoena or court-issued authorization for certain searches, particularly those involving records retained for 30 days, could be reasonable.
However, he cautioned that such requirements could delay investigations involving child abductions or crimes that had just occurred when officers need the information quickly.
For some residents, the presentation did little to ease their concerns.
Josh Huckabee, who distributed cards listing questions about the technology, said he left feeling less comfortable with the town’s use of the cameras.
“Tonight is the first time we heard from our police chief that outside agencies have searched our cameras and he doesn’t seem like he wants to do anything about it,” Huckabee said.
He said several questions remained unanswered, including which outside agencies had searched the town’s cameras and when the department would release their locations. The department has been reluctant to disclose camera locations out of concern that criminals could use the information to avoid detection.
Sarah Maida also expressed concerns about the potential misuse of the technology, including for immigration enforcement and tracking women seeking abortions.
Maida said the technology could also facilitate stalking or domestic violence and criticized the presentation for failing to address those risks.
April Guardi, who said she previously worked as a privacy compliance officer, raised additional concerns about how the department protects sensitive information.
Guardi questioned whether the department conducts annual privacy assessments, has a designated privacy officer, maintains updated operating procedures and has established protocols for responding to data breaches.
She also pointed to an allegation raised during the presentation that records released by the department contained unredacted personal information, including names and home addresses. During the presentation, Campbell said he was unaware of that alleged disclosure.
Guardi questioned whether the department had procedures for notifying people whose information may have been exposed and addressing potential data breaches.
“I did not hear that addressed tonight and I have not heard that addressed in any of these conversations yet,” she said.
Campbell said the department was preparing to release additional records requested under the state’s Freedom of Information Law, including audit logs showing searches by outside agencies. He said the volume of records and the need to redact sensitive information had delayed their release.
The system’s future will ultimately depend on the Town Board.
Campbell said the first two years of the program were paid for through a state law enforcement technology grant and that funding had been budgeted through 2027.
He said the town could discontinue the program without owing additional money, although he believed it would need to provide 30 days’ notice.
Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio, speaking after the presentation, said officials would continue listening to residents before determining what comes next.
“I think we’re waiting to hear whatever other concerns come in,” Piaquadio said. “The chief has addressed most of them here tonight, I think.”
Campbell encouraged residents to submit additional questions through flock-questions-comments@townofnewburgh.org and said they would have another opportunity to raise concerns during the next Town Board meeting, scheduled for Nov. 9.