PEORIA, Ill. — Privacy concerns are being raised by a civil liberties group over new license plate recognition cameras being installed in Peoria.
Peoria’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is questioning the city and police department regarding new license plate recognition cameras.
In November, Peoria City Council unanimously approved a two year agreement for 16 LPR cameras costing $109,000, money the department already had.
“It doesn’t capture a full recording, but it will capture motion. That’s even on items without license plates so an individual walks by, it will capture a few snapshots of that individual,” said Jack Nieukirk, technology administrator for PPD, at the November meeting.
Director of Communications and Public Policy of ACLU Illinois Ed Yohnka wants to know who will be regulating the cameras and the data that comes from them.
Yohnka asked, “If you’re going to have a privacy policy, will you report to the public when A, that policy is violated and B, what happened to that person that violated it?”
Yohnka believes the cameras target high crime areas and will build distrust among community members and police.
He asked, “Is that simply code for saying, we’re going to put them in black in brown communities?”
Earlier this week, Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show” that the cameras are strategically being placed in areas of Peoria that have experienced a lot of crime.
In regards to privacy issues, Echevarria said PPD is working on policy to specifically address that…making sure the data is stored only for a certain amount of time.
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