> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://websterledger.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Webster's new in-car police cameras also read license plates - URL: https://websterledger.com/webster-police-in-car-cameras-read-license-plates/ - Published: 2026-08-13T12:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-13T11:59:59.000Z - Description: Webster's police cars carry cameras that read license plates. Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier disclosed the capability at a budget workshop. New York's model policy binds nobody, and the state records schedule it points to sets a one-year retention where local governments have adopted it. - Author: Morgan VanDerLeest - Tags: Public safety, Government Webster's police cars carry cameras that read license plates. Police Chief Dennis Kohlmeier disclosed the capability to the Town Board on Aug. 6, at the town's second and last budget workshop for 2027\. The department put the cameras in its patrol cars for the first time in 2026. He volunteered it, unprompted, inside his explanation of a single budget line at a public meeting the town livestreamed. Kohlmeier described the system to the board in one stretch of remarks: > "In 2026, for the first time as an agency, we implemented in-car cameras. It's from the same manufacturer as our body-worn cameras, so they work integrated. An example would be when an officer is driving down the road, the camera is always recording at least a 30-second loop. So if there's an accident, that accident is captured on camera. Otherwise, when the officer turns the lights on, the camera will activate. It also activates the body-worn camera through the same signal. ... Those in-car cameras are also license plate readers, so they also provide the functionality of processing the license plates that are being captured by the camera. That helps officers on patrol. It helps them on traffic stops, things like that. So it was a big improvement to operational capability by switching vendors, and so far we've had a lot of success with that." The presentation ended with a call for questions. The board asked whether the department is short of active duty officers, and asked Kohlmeier to email members the spreadsheet he had prepared. No one on the board came back to the plate readers, and they did not come up again anywhere in the recording of the meeting. New York has a model policy for plate readers, and it binds nobody. The justification memo behind a bill now pending in the state Senate says the state has no uniform standards governing the use of the systems. A state records schedule sets a one-year retention for license plate reader data. The current model policy points to that schedule, and the State Archives says local governments must adopt it by resolution before using it. ## What the budget papers show The line he was explaining is A3120.40102 Service Contracts. The department requests $88,716 for 2027 against $69,500 in 2026, an increase of 27.6%. A second line moves the other way. Capital Purchases, Miscellaneous falls to $18,000 for 2027 from $65,000 in 2026\. Kohlmeier said the 2026 figure carried a temporary increase for body-worn camera purchases. The police worksheet is dated July 14, so any figure in it may have moved since. ## What the state says, and what it does not The Municipal Police Training Council, part of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, published a License Plate Reader Model Policy in June 2022\. Its stated purpose is "to provide guidance to law enforcement agencies in developing written policies and procedures." Agencies, it says, "are encouraged to customize these protocols to meet their agency's needs." A bill to set statewide standards is pending. Senate Bill S963, sponsored by Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, would direct the training council to develop minimum standards for plate reader systems and require agencies to post them. Its justification memo states that "New York currently does not have uniform standards in place governing the use of ALPRs." The bill sits in the Senate Consumer Protection Committee. The model sets a retention period. Section VI.B says plate reads "shall be retained for a minimum of one year in accordance with NYS Archives retention and disposition schedule." A footnote sends that to Public Safety Item 1241 of the State Archives retention schedule for local governments. The Archives says local governments must adopt that schedule by resolution before using it. The item sets one year for license plate reader data. It holds hot list hits drawn from the state's eJusticeNY Integrated Justice Portal for as long as the case investigation they relate to is held. Logs of who searched the data are to be kept six years, a period the policy ties to the same schedule. The model also defines what plates may be checked against, and the definition is broad. It runs from stolen vehicles and stolen plates to wanted persons, suspended or revoked registrations, AMBER Alerts and national files such as the National Crime Information Center. It also covers plates entered by hand and tied to crimes in any local jurisdiction or to "other investigative targets." On a hit, the model says an officer "shall verify" that the captured image matches the plate number and state of registration before making a stop. It treats plate data as for official use only. It allows sharing for legitimate law enforcement purposes, and it directs that outside disclosures be documented by requester and reason. ## The county has its own related program Webster's system is not the county's. The Monroe County Legislature approved an Automatic License Plate Reader program for the Sheriff's Office, announced by County Executive Adam Bello and Sheriff Todd Baxter on May 23, 2025\. The announcement says the program is fully funded by a state Division of Criminal Justice Services law enforcement technology grant. It says the Sheriff's Office was awarded the largest amount of the 378 New York agencies that applied. It also says Monroe was then the only major county in the state without such a program. It names Erie, Onondaga, Albany and New York City as places that had already deployed one. The two systems capture plates differently. The county's cameras are fixed at locations. WXXI reported in April 2025 that 85 sites were proposed. Webster's readers are mounted in patrol cars and move with them. The state leaves the rest to each agency. The sharing arrangements and the written rules for day to day use are decided by the department and by the Town Board that funds it. ## Sign up for Webster Ledger Independent local journalism for Webster, NY. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. --- *AI tools were used in drafting and research.*