Alameda City Council wants new draft on controversial license plate readers

ALAMEDA, Calif. (KGO) -- A fight over license plate readers went late into the night in the East Bay. Police concerns versus privacy rights created a lively debate in Alameda.

City council members are being very thoughtful about this, they listened to four hours of comments Tuesday night, and they want to hear more.

RELATED: Alameda considers license plate readers at all entry points

No decision was made last night. The city council said it needed to take everything it heard at the meeting, process it, rework the legislation and maybe even hear more testimony. The idea is to put license plate reader cameras around Alameda to help fight crime. There was a lot of concern last night that the company that makes these cameras, Vigilant Solutions, will give the information it gathers to federal immigration agents. One city council member said after hearing this she now wants the proposal to be rewritten before they consider it.

The police chief promises the technology does not work that way, that they won't be making traffic stops based on racially profiling. He says crime is up 12 percent this year in Alameda, a lot of that is from car break-ins, robberies and burglaries, he says this system will help them catch the people committing the crimes.

Alameda city council is not done studying the issue and listening to residents.

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