Twenty local police agencies have installed license plate readers and conduct thousands of searches a week of motorists — Cheektowaga in particular. Officials say the technology helps them fight crime, but critics call it unwarranted surveillance.
A Flock camera captures the license plate of a visitor to The Boulevard shopping plaza. Photo by J. Dale Shoemaker.
Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories on the police use of license plate readers. Tomorrow’s story details where the cameras are located across the region.
Imagine you live in Kenmore and need to swing by the Walden Galleria Mall in Cheektowaga…