Port Authority officials announced plans on Monday to expand the use of license plate readers at crossings between Staten Island and New Jersey to crack down on car theft and other crimes.
The agency has committed $10 million to install the devices at three crossings connecting Staten Island. They have already been installed at the Goethals Bridge and will soon be placed on the Outerbridge Crossing and Bayonne Bridge, according to officials.
“It will allow law enforcement a key tool with respect to auto theft, with respect to identifying vehicles involved in any criminal activities, and it has also been critical in the capability of law enforcement to locate missing persons,” Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton said at a press conference on the Staten Island side of the Goethals Bridge, flanked by law enforcement and elected leaders. “It is also, from the Port Authority’s point of view, a critical component in identifying and prosecuting drivers who repeatedly evade tolls.”
The agency said the new license plate readers are expected to be fully installed by the end of 2026, bringing the total number on Staten Island to 40, including 24 new readers at the Bayonne Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing. The expansion is part of a larger effort to heighten surveillance at all of the crossings overseen by the Port Authority, which has already placed the devices at the George Washington Bridge and Holland and Lincoln tunnels.
NYPD data shows that auto theft incidents in New York City have increased every year from 2018 to 2023, mirroring national trends. License plate readers currently in use have provided law enforcement with data in regional criminal investigations, officials said. Auto theft cases have dropped almost 30% so far this year in Staten Island, according to prosecution figures shared by the Port Authority.
“In recent years, this technology has proven critical to investigations throughout New York City by detecting vehicles connected to persistent toll evasion, fraudulent license plates, gun trafficking, and other crimes,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said in a statement.
Still, some civil liberties advocates say license plate readers come with privacy risks. Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said the expansion of the technology by law enforcement use contradicts some of New York’s stated values.
“We can’t be a sanctuary state, we can’t be an abortion sanctuary state if we’re giving everyone’s driving movements to any law enforcement agency that wants them,” he said. “This is something that in most countries would be completely unthinkable but in the United States is becoming increasingly routine.”
In March, various law enforcement and transportation agencies in New York City said they would crack down on fake and altered license plates used to dodge tolls and commit other crimes. Up to that point, a task force equipped with electronic license plate readers had issued more than 280 summons and made more than 70 vehicle seizures and eight arrests, the NYPD said.
