County Executive Jen Metzger issued an executive order this week prohibiting the use of Flock cameras and similar AI-assisted surveillance by all county departments under her control or by vendors who do business with the county. In Kingston, meanwhile, Police Chief Egidio Tinti defended the technology calling it instrumental to solving a recent hit-and-run on Broadway and other violent crimes.

Metzger’s order issued Thursday does not apply to the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office or the Comptroller’s Office. Nor will it prevent the technology’s use by local law enforcement agencies or municipalities within the county. But the order will prevent non-law enforcement uses like traffic pattern analysis and access control at county facilities.

In a statement announcing the executive order, Metzger said county government does not currently employ the technology. She cited concerns over privacy, civil liberties and the lack of government oversight and regulation on rapidly evolving AI technology as reasons for the ban. Flock cameras serve as automated license plate readers (ALPRs) but other manufacturers make them as well. The Kingston Police Department uses Motorola versions of ALPRs.

“Protecting public safety and individual rights go hand in hand in a democracy, and the development of Flock cameras and other AI-assisted surveillance technologies threatens that balance,” Metzger said. “This executive order ensures that Ulster County does not adopt surveillance tools that have the potential to erode privacy or expose residents to misuse of their personal information.”

The order comes amid rising and bipartisan concern over the use of APLR technology, which can track vehicles and potentially individuals across a vast nationwide network. Among the recent abuses of the technology is a spate of law enforcement officers using ALPR data to stalk ex-romantic partners and others, including in Albany where last month a sheriff’s investigator was arrested for allegedly conducting unauthorized searches for an ex-girlfriend’s vehicle. There are also concerns about ALPR data being sold to data brokers and marketing firms. Those concerns have focused on Flock in part because the company asserts ownership of data collected by its systems.

Locally, Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa backed off a plan to use money from a $794,000 technology and modernization grant through the U.S. Department of Justice to expand the department’s existing network of license plate readers in the face of strong public opposition. In the announcement touting Metzger’s new order, Figueroa expressed support for the ban and said that he would soon issue his own statement outlining his agency’s approach to ALPR technology.

“I support County Executive Metzger’s executive order prohibiting Flock and AI-assisted surveillance,” said Figueroa. “Protecting public safety while upholding the privacy and civil liberties of our residents is essential, and the executive order provides an important framework for both.”

ALPRs Catch Criminals, Chief Says

On Wednesday at a meeting of the Kingston Police Commission, Tinti defended the department’s use of Motorola ALPR technology. Last year, the Kingston Common Council approved a $1.2 million state grant for the KPD to add 10 Motorola ALPR systems and 42 conventional surveillance cameras to its existing network of six ALPRs and 29 cameras.

The cameras and ALPR technology, Tinti said, allowed detectives to identify 35-year-old Justin Grieco as the driver who struck a man crossing Broadway on the night of Aug. 1 before driving off. On Oct. 7, Grieco was arrested on vehicular assault and drunken driving charges along with his partner, Katie M. Potter, who allegedly filed a false insurance claim to help cover up the alleged crime. Tinti said that while it took detectives months to gather additional evidence to build a solid case for prosecutors, they were able to identify Grieco as their suspect “immediately” using camera footage and ALPR data.

“I know there’s been a lot about [ALPR systems] and I fully understand people’s concerns,” said Tinti, who in August appeared before the council’s Public Safety Committee to answer questions about the department’s safeguards and policies on surveillance technology. “But without it we would not have had that suspect in the time we did.”