Miguel Perez, of Shirley, charged with stealing automated license plate readers from intersection

A 68-year-old man was arrested Monday and charged with stealing two Axon automated license plate readers from an intersection in Shirley.

Suffolk County police said the thefts occurred at about 6:40 p.m. Sunday, the readers taken from where they’d been positioned on Moriches-Middle Island Road near Glen Drive. The readers, according to law enforcement sites, are used to monitor, collect information using AI-powered software and provide information to police — and have led to nationwide theft and vandalism, as well as pushback from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Police said Miguel Perez, of Shirley, was arrested Monday at about 5 p.m. on Carnation Drive in Shirley, charged with fourth-degree grand larceny. He was issued a desk appearance ticket, to be arraigned at a later date.

It was unclear if he is represented by counsel.

Detectives are asking anyone with information regarding the theft or similar thefts to contact the Property Auto Crime Section at 631-852-6429.

The theft is part of what appears to be a growing nationwide trend of similar thefts and vandalism targeting license plate reader cameras.

Late last month Southold Town police confirmed a reader camera in Greenport had been found splashed with paint, its wiring ripped out, over the Fourth of July weekend, while a camera in Peconic had been found turned away from traffic. Southold Police Chief Steve Grattan also told Newsday another Greenport camera, mounted roadside on a small pole, had been stuck by a vehicle — and destroyed.

“I think they’re certainly intentional,” Grattan said last week, adding: “These cameras are the center of controversy all across the U.S.”

The incidents in Southold involved cameras made by Flock Safety, while the theft in Shirley involved cameras made by Axon.

According to company websites, the two different types of cameras do much the same thing — reading license plates to gather information and track vehicles. Suffolk police said the readers are not used for enforcement such as speed violations or red light camera enforcement.

Instead, police have argued the cameras are an invaluable investigative tool needed to track criminals, monitor crime patterns and even help solve missing persons cases — Grattan telling Newsday his department used the technology earlier this year to locate an elderly Orient woman with dementia who had traveled out of state.

But the ACLU has argued the images and information captured constitute an invasion of privacy and has encouraged people to advocate for camera removal. That has led to anti-plate reader campaigns like one online activists call “DeFlock,” which maps camera locations in addition to calling for campaigns against the expansion of plate-reader technology.

Among the concerns, Newsday reported last week, is the fear that data collected by cameras will be shared with federal authorities for operations such as immigration enforcement. The Newsday report found that earlier this year East Hampton Village banned the use of its Flock cameras for that purpose — barring cooperation agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.