AI license plate cameras tore this town apart and led to a state of emergency

The civic uproar began quietly, when a mom walking her newborn spotted a strange black contraption at the end of her block: a camera topped with a solar panel.

Dierdre Shea researched the camera and learned that it was an artificial-intelligence-assisted license plate reader — the type that have caused privacy concerns across the country in recent months, leading to laws limiting their use in more than a dozen states.

She emailed her neighbors, sparking fierce debate in this town of 52,000 overlooking the Hudson River. Residents called for the devices to be taken off the streets, and the Republican mayor, who supports the cameras, clashed with the Democratic city council, which tried to halt funding for them.

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