Glen Cove cops: Cameras' use to be limited

Dozens of police surveillance cameras going up around Glen Cove will be keeping a closer eye on the city's municipal lots and downtown district.

But officials want to ensure the information gathered is used only for police investigations.

Police Chief William Whitton said he has in place a policy dictating the cameras' use, with most of the network set to go live by next week. The policy covers about 50 cameras and six license plate readers, two of which are installed, he said.

"That policy in place will regulate who has access to that material, when and how they'll have access," Whitton said.

The surveillance network "will be basically investigatory in nature and it'll be open to upper-command-level personnel only -- myself, the detective lieutenant, the deputy chief, people like that," he said.

Mayor Ralph V. Suozzi said the equipment, paid for with part of a $615,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant, will serve as "both a crime deterrent and a prosecution tool."

Its implementation, however, has raised concerns about invasion of privacy and potential for misuse.

Councilman Anthony Gallo Jr., who called for a public hearing in February, said he is neither for nor against the cameras and was glad a policy will be in place to "safeguard the city on a number of levels."

City officials have said the cameras record public areas where there is no expectation of privacy.

Whitton said the license plate readers, called LPRs, capture nothing more than characters. The data, stored in Nassau County servers, can be retrieved by officers only in connection to active criminal cases.

New York City uses LPRs, as does the North Shore village of Centre Island, where one pair monitors traffic in and out of the peninsula.

Kings Point has planned what might be the most extensive surveillance network on Long Island. The $1 million program will equip 22 intersections each with a video camera and two LPRs, one for each direction of traffic, police Lt. George Banville said. Three cameras and six LPRs are currently in use, he said.

The village does not have a specific policy for the cameras, but a blanket code of conduct is applied to their use, he said.

"You come to police because you expect to be helped and you expect to not have your privacy invaded," Banville said. "We try to respect that as best we can all the way down the line."

Glen Cove -- more than five times the population of Kings Point, with about 27,000 residents -- will have seven LPRs. Two are installed on Glen Cove Avenue, four will be placed on Route 107 and a police vehicle with an LPR has been in use for three years, Whitton said.

"The whole scope of the project is to help protect the community," he said.

"It's not like we're looking to do anything nefarious with the information. It's just looking to protect you."