A coalition of civil rights groups has filed a class-action lawsuit against Westchester County, demanding a state judge halt the operation of nearly 600 automated license plate readers (ALPRs). The legal challenge, filed Tuesday, alleges the county's surveillance network has amassed a staggering database of 1.6 billion license plate scans, branding it a warrantless and 'indiscriminate surveillance system' that violates the New York State Constitution. The complaint further claims that Westchester County never secured proper legislative authorization to launch the program, which has been operating with what critics describe as a troubling lack of oversight.
According to the lawsuit, the collected data has been shared with more than 50 outside law enforcement agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), raising significant privacy concerns among residents and watchdogs. 'In a democracy, a police department cannot unilaterally decide — without legislative authorization — to surveil the daily movements of its own citizens without any real accountability, transparency, or oversight,' said Barry Friedman, founder and faculty director of the Policing Project at NYU School of Law, which is representing the plaintiffs. 'This indiscriminate data surveillance must not be allowed to continue in the dark.'
Plaintiffs Detail Extensive Tracking
The class action was filed on behalf of four women who live in Westchester County or nearby jurisdictions. The suit alleges that their license plate data was captured thousands of times collectively. One plaintiff, Lora Nelson, had her vehicle photographed by the county's cameras more than 2,400 times. Another plaintiff's vehicle was logged 1,134 times between 2023 and 2026, illustrating the intensive monitoring capabilities of the ALPR network, which critics say records 'the long-term travel patterns, daily habits, and intimate information of millions of law-abiding New Yorkers.'
Spanning 430 square miles just north of New York City, Westchester County is a major transportation hub crisscrossed by Interstates 87 and 95, as well as the Hutchinson River Parkway, serving daily commuter traffic to and from Manhattan. The county's extensive camera grid effectively blankets these major thoroughfares, creating a detailed digital map of vehicle movements. 'The network records the long-term travel patterns, daily habits, and intimate information of millions of law-abiding New Yorkers and other motorists who travel through Westchester,' the complaint reads.
Wider Context of ALPR Controversy
The legal battle in Westchester is part of a broader national debate over the use of license plate readers by law enforcement. The Associated Press previously reported that the U.S. Border Patrol was running a secretive ALPR program that singled out drivers based on their travel patterns, prompting complaints from congressional Democrats that the program may be unlawful. Separately, the ALPR company Flock Safety announced last year it was pausing work with the Department of Homeland Security after it was revealed that police departments nationwide were sharing license plate reader data with immigration authorities.
The Westchester litigation specifically aims to have courts reconsider existing legal doctrines regarding public surveillance. While the use of license plate readers has broadly been upheld by most courts because they document the movement of cars on public roadways, Friedman argues the sheer scale of data collection in Westchester marks a constitutional tipping point. 'This indiscriminate data surveillance must not be allowed to continue in the dark,' he said.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Westchester County stated, 'Westchester County has not yet received or reviewed the lawsuit referenced.' The legal action is being supported by a formidable coalition of advocacy groups, including the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), and the law firm Freshfields, signaling a high-stakes battle over digital privacy and government surveillance in New York.
