Brookline selectmen reject state grant for cruiser cameras

Brookline selectmen reject state grant for cruiser cameras

Because state rules are unclear over the use, storage and sharing of data collected by a cruiser-mounted digital camera system, Brookline’s Board of Selectmen Tuesday unanimously voted against accepting $20,460 in state highway safety funds for the system.The Police Department had won the grant for the system earlier this summer. It would have allowed the department to quickly read thousands of license plates on parked and moving cars in town.

Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said at the time that it would initially be used to identify stolen cars, cars used in crimes in other parts of the state, and unregistered or uninsured cars. He said once the department purchased the necessary software packages it would be used to identify cars with multiple outstanding parking tickets, which are on the town’s “tow list”, and speed up ticketing for cars exceeding the two-hour on-street parking limit or which were violating permit regulations.

But residents and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts objected to vague state requirements that the town share the collected license plate data, and worried that the camera system might be used against innocent vehicle owners. They asked for tighter safeguards.A draft policy was presented on Tuesday, but the selectmen said that objections issued by the civil liberties union were worth incorporating in a new draft which they hoped would more fully protect the driving public.

O’Leary proposed that his department look at purchasing a similar system with town funds, which could be programmed to serve the needs of the department: mostly parking violations and flagging the tow list quickly. Selectwoman Nancy Daly , after hearing from Town Meeting Member Clint Richmond , suggested that the department also run a cost-benefit analysis, so the town could be sure it would actually save money, as well as officers’ time.


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