York City police ask city council to fund license plate cameras
Smile, your car's license plate is on candid camera.
The York City Police Department is asking the city council to approve the purchase of cameras that automatically photograph license plates, identify vehicles' owners and their criminal information, and transmit the information to a patrol car's laptop computer in seconds.
The technology, already in use in other areas of York County, makes police more effective in catching people with outstanding arrest warrants, finding stolen vehicles, and getting drugs and illegal guns off the streets, city police Chief Wes Kahley said.
A measure to allow the police department to move funds so it can purchase the cameras was on the council's Tuesday meeting agenda, but council members will not take action on the matter until their Sept. 20 meeting.The infrared camera units cost about $26,000 each and can take pictures in almost any weather or light.
They typically mount on each side of tail end of a police cruiser, taking pictures of every vehicle that passes it, and would primarily be used for warrant details, Kahley said before Tuesday's meeting.
Effectiveness: Many times police will park near a stop light and randomly run the license plates of cars that are stopped in the hope of catching those wanted on warrants or other outstanding legal issues. But that involves a lot of wasted time, Kahley said.
"To give you an idea during the month trial period we did five (warrant) details, and in those details we arrested 41 people and served 96 warrants," Kahley said. "Also during those details we took guns off the street, we took drugs off the street, and located several stolen vehicles right away."
Another bonus is that the system dumps the information garnered by running the license plates into a national database for future use.
That is how the police located one of the suspects in the June murder of 26-year-old Alejandro Garcia-Castro at a party on West Poplar Street, Kahley said.
"We searched that database and found a picture of the vehicle we were looking for outside the gentleman's home," Kahley said.
Civil liberty concerns: David Moser, chairman of the Libertarian Party of York County, issued a press release Monday saying the cameras are indeed effective, but their misuse in other areas of the country - such as tracking down individuals with overdue library fees-raises the issue of how York should conduct oversight of such a program.
"Where do we draw the line with this? It is obviously an effective tool for what they are stating, but will it be used for things that citizens are comfortable with? That council members are comfortable with?" Moser said. "Who is going to have access to the data that is generated?"
But Kahley said the civil liberty issues are moot because the pictures are taken in a public place where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
In fact, Kahley said, businesses such as car repossession companies contract with utility providers or other businesses that have fleets to mount the cameras and use them on their behalf.
"I think a lot of people would be surprised to know how many of these cameras are out there in York County being used right now, and it is not always police," Kahley said. But Moser countered the primary concern is not with the pictures, but with the data that is generated and stored using taxpayer money.
"How will this information be stored, and who will have access to it?" Moser said. "We have to be careful about what we ask for, and there are lot of questions that need to be asked and addressed before we decide whether to do this."
Kahley said he wants two camera systems, and has some grant money and funds left over from another project so their purchase won't add to the budget.
However, the city council still needs to approve moving the money within the municipal budget to enable the purchase.
- Reach Charlie Lardner at 505-5439 or clardner@yorkdispatch.com.
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