What does the future hold for automatic license plate readers in Sussex County?
The Sussex County Board of Commissioners will discuss automated license plate readers at its May 10 meeting by request from Hopatcong officials to place the stationary cameras on county-owned road signposts in the borough.
While becoming more common across the country and state, the Hopatcong cameras would become the first such "fixed camera" locations in Sussex County, according to Sheriff Michael Strada and a recent news release from the state Office of the Attorney General.
Strada said three of his patrol cars have LPR, and apparently are the only such mobile readers in the county.
In a Friday news release, the OAG said the latest batch of grants to purchase the devices, which includes those in Sparta, means that at least one department in each of the state's 21 counties will have the fixed devices.
Sparta is receiving $68,000 to purchase units, said the release. Sparta police Lt. Thomas Snyder said he was not aware of the request from Hopatcong to the county commissioners.
Hopatcong police Chief Meghan McCluskey said the borough is in the process of ordering the readers using borough funds and was seeking permission from the county to use existing sign posts to mount the readers.
The permission request was brought before the commissioners on Wednesday by County Administrator Ron Tappan during his report to the board. When he gave a brief explanation of the devices, Commissioner Jill Space commented: "Sounds like 'Big Brother'".
The board initially wanted to take five minutes to read the request from Hopatcong, but decided they needed more time to look into it and how the readers are used.
"I just want to get more information," Space said Friday. "That (statement) was a quick reaction. I think we need to discuss this more, get more information. What are the safeguards? How is it used?"
Both McCluskey and Snyder said the readers are a useful tool for police and the state AG's office has instituted stringent rules on who can obtain the information gathered by the readers and how long that information can be stored.
Snyder noted that any police department that has access to the state and national vehicle databases can obtain information. An example, Newton police could access the information obtained by the Sparta readers or State Police readers.
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McCluskey said vehicle movement data would be useful in solving crimes. As an example, a license plate number obtained by an eyewitness to a robbery could be entered into the computer which could then search if that vehicle had passed by any readers and give the exact time it did.
Even in non-criminal cases such as a missing person known to be driving a car, the computer could be asked if the car has passed the location of any reader.
She said there are many other uses in which the history of that vehicle in town would be useful, such a attempted child luring or burglaries.
The readers do not have radar and could not be used for speed enforcement and would not be used to cite drivers for expired registrations or inspections. "It's for crime or the safety of our citizens," she said.
Hopatcong's request is for locations on the county roads of Lakeside Boulevard, Brooklyn-Stanhope Road, Lakeside Avenue and Maxim Drive.
Of the actual operations of the system, Snyder said, "everything runs through the state." He also noted every county has a coordinator for LPRs located in the county prosecutor's office.
This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Sussex County NJ officials discuss license plate readers
