East Haven’s Board of Police Commissioners will take up a rewritten policy on the police department’s automated license plate readers at a special meeting Monday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. at police headquarters, 471 North High St., according to the posted agenda and meeting packet.
The special meeting replaces the board’s regular monthly meeting, which had been set for Tuesday, Oct. 27. A notice posted Friday by board clerk Marsha M. Maldonado says the Oct. 27 meeting was canceled “in favor of a Special Meeting to be held on October 26, 2026.”
License plate readers are cameras, fixed on poles or mounted on cruisers, that photograph passing plates and check them against lists of stolen or wanted vehicles. How long that data is kept and who gets to see it has become a debate in towns across Connecticut.
What the draft policy would do
The packet includes a marked-up draft that renumbers the rule as Policy 402.7. The current version was issued in May and took effect June 15, 2026. The new draft lists an effective date of Nov. 13, 2026, and cites a 2026 state law, Public Act 26-14, among its sources. Because the packet shows old and new wording run together, the list below describes what the draft would require, not which lines are brand new. Under the draft:
- Immigration and health care searches: Plate data could not be searched for civil immigration enforcement, or to investigate people who sought, received or provided reproductive or gender-affirming health care that is legal in Connecticut.
- Camera locations: No fixed camera could collect data on the premises of, or within 250 feet of, a reproductive or sexual health facility or a nonprofit that primarily serves immigrant communities, if that organization has notified the state Police Officer Standards and Training Council (POSTC) of its location.
- Sharing: Data could be shared with Connecticut public agencies, police in New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and multi-agency task forces that sign a written promise not to use it for immigration or reproductive and gender-affirming care cases. Anyone else, including federal agencies, would need a judge’s probable-cause warrant or a Terrorist Screening Database match.
- How long it’s kept: No more than 21 days, unless a warrant, court order or a documented, supervisor-approved criminal case requires keeping it longer.
- Audits: System audits would be monthly, replacing quarterly audits in the old text, and the department would file an annual usage report with POSTC by Jan. 31 and post it on its website.
- Paperwork: Officers would have to note in reports and court papers when plate reader data was used.
The board is also scheduled to review a revised domestic violence policy, Policy 415.11. Monday’s agenda also includes public comment, approval of the Sept. 29 minutes and the department’s monthly reports.
A month of police calls
The chief’s report in the same packet, signed by Chief Edward R. Lennon Jr. and covering Sept. 23 to Oct. 20, lists:
- 2,228 calls dispatched
- 48 custodial arrests, plus juvenile arrests
- 6 drug arrests
- 52 motor vehicle crashes
- 234 motor vehicle stops
- 43 alarm calls, 38 of them false
If you want to weigh in
The meeting is open to the public, and public comment is on the agenda. The full packet, including the draft policy, is on the town’s Agenda Center. Questions about the meeting can go to the board clerk at (203) 468-3214.
The East Haven Courier will report on what the board decides.
Correction note: An earlier East Haven Courier meetings roundup for the week of Oct. 26 listed the police commission on Tuesday, Oct. 27. That meeting was canceled and replaced by Monday’s special meeting.
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