BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo police have quietly installed license plate readers at 41 intersections in the city, two-thirds of them located in neighborhoods populated predominantly with people of color.
Buffalo police, in response to a Freedom of Information Law request for the department’s policies on license plate readers, wrote that they’re used for “law enforcement investigative purposes only.” While it’s unclear how the department now is using readers, police in the past used mobile readers to issue traffic tickets, at considerable profit to the city.
Unlike many other cities, neither the police nor Mayor Byron Brown, their commander in chief, have made the public aware of the stationary readers, which are typically attached to traffic-light crossarms. Common Council members say they, too, have been left largely in the dark.