{"id":603582,"date":"2026-05-18T14:24:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=603582"},"modified":"2026-05-18T14:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T14:24:37","slug":"charming-town-shaken-after-police-install-hidden-ai-monitoring-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=603582","title":{"rendered":"Charming town shaken after police install hidden AI monitoring cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Touching on \u201cthe nerve of \u20181984,\u2019\u201d an Upstate New York mayor\u2019s decision regarding citywide surveillance found her facing a lawsuit from the city council.<\/p>\n

The rapid rate of technological advancement has left many reeling over mounting encroachments on privacy. A lead culprit for concern has been artificial intelligence-enabled license plate-reading cameras that, in recent months, have divided the people of Troy, New York, after learning the police were cleared to install the costly equipment without approval from the city council.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council is reviewing why no one other than the police department signed off on the initial contract; anything over $35,000 typically requires council approval,\u201d reported<\/a> The Washington Post, as the town of 52,000 had entered a contract with Flock Safety worth $156,000 for two years, the council argued to be illegal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was done secretly, and when you aren\u2019t transparent, that angers people. It touches on the nerve of \u20181984,\u2019 and \u2018Big Brother is watching you,’\u201d Troy City Council President Sue Steele told the newspaper.<\/p>\n

According to Troy Deputy Police Chief Steven Barker, \u201cThe cameras are used in almost every investigation our detective bureau pursues,\u201d and the data is deleted after 30 days. Additionally, participation was paused in March after a resident identified one of the cameras and alerted others about them.<\/p>\n

The outcry had spurred Mayor Carmella Mantello (R) to declare a public safety emergency on April 1, which led to a lawsuit<\/a> from the city council last week over the authorized payment of $78,000 to Flock Safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayor Mantello has no authority whatsoever to declare a public emergency just because she didn\u2019t get her way in terms of policy,\u201d contended Troy Residents Against Flock Cameras in a statement reported<\/a> by WRGB. \u201cIt\u2019s time for the mayor to wake up and smell the coffee: the people of Troy do not want the Flock cameras. Her support for these mass surveillance tools leaves her in a political minority.\u201d<\/p>\n

As previously reported, thousands of communities across the country have been impacted by Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), prompting considerable pushback and even lawsuits for recording the movements of residents. DeFlock estimates that there are around 90,000 readers in use across the country.<\/p>\n

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Flock cameras are invading and coming to a city near you https:\/\/t.co\/M9nIyKIYOm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 BPR (@BIZPACReview) November 24, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Aiming to dispel concerns,\u00a0Flock Safety chief information security officer Chris Castaldo said in a statement,\u00a0\u201cAt Flock, we believe safety and privacy should go hand in hand, which is why our technology is built around transparency, accountability, and local control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur platform includes safeguards like audit trails to help ensure accountability at every step,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Mantello held fast to her support for the cameras, having argued that opposition is akin to desires to defund the police. \u201cPublic safety has always been \u2014 and will remain \u2014 my administration\u2019s top priority. From the beginning, we took residents\u2019 privacy concerns seriously and implemented safeguards, including disabling the national search function within the Flock Safety system.\u201d<\/p>\n

She accused the council of \u201cfrivolous litigation instead of collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of an effort to find a compromise, the council had introduced a proposal to have data scrubbed after two days, a move the mayor deemed \u201cdangerous, misguided and a gift to criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the suit, a statement from the council maintained, \u201cThe mayor has gone far beyond her lawful authority. If left unchallenged, it sets a dangerous precedent where the mayor can claim a public safety emergency any time she disagrees with the legislative branch, creating an unchecked power that echoes what is happening in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Touching on \u201cthe nerve of \u20181984,\u2019\u201d an Upstate New York mayor\u2019s decision regarding citywide surveillance found her facing a lawsuit from the city council. The rapid rate of technological advancement has left many reeling over mounting encroachments on privacy. A lead culprit for concern has been artificial intelligence-enabled license plate-reading cameras that, in recent months,… Continue reading Charming town shaken after police install hidden AI monitoring cameras<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-603582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=603582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/603583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=603582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=603582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=603582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}