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October 15, 2026 · Troy, NY · Policy

Troy mayor vetoes Local Law 3 regulating police use of ALPR and Flock data

On Thursday evening, Oct. 15, 2026, Troy, N.Y. Mayor Carmella Mantello vetoed Local Law 3 of 2026, which would have restricted the Troy Police Department's use of automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) and the data they collect, CBS6 Albany / WRGB and WAMC reported. The Troy City Council had passed the law 6-0 on Oct. 1. Under the measure, captured plate data would have to be permanently deleted within 72 hours, with exceptions when the data may be needed as evidence or when an officer has a reasonable belief it is needed for a criminal investigation; sharing of ALPR data would be limited to cases under a court order or with the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office, according to the outlets. In her veto statement, Mantello said the law is biased in favor of criminal defendants, undermines the police department's ability to investigate and solve serious violent crime, infringes on the mayor's and chiefs' ability to manage the police force, and would purge constitutionally collected evidence after 72 hours — in many cases before leads are fully developed, and in some cases before a crime has even been reported. She argued there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a public-facing license plate or the exterior of a car on public roads, and wrote that Troy has used camera surveillance systems since at least 2015 with no instance of a Troy police investigator misusing the city's cameras for an improper purpose. WAMC reported the veto is the latest turn in a months-long fight over Troy's Flock cameras after privacy concerns at council meetings this spring; the council is currently suing Mantello over her use of emergency powers this spring to pay the Flock contract, and is likely to try to override the veto. The activist group DeFlock Troy had criticized amendments to an earlier draft of the bill. The cameras remain in use; this is a veto of regulation, not a cancellation. Across the Hudson, a former Albany County Sheriff's investigator faces misdemeanor charges for allegedly searching Flock camera data more than 4,000 times without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, WAMC reported; the investigator has been charged and has not been convicted.

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