Albany County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Albany County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Albany County Sheriff's Office
The Albany County Sheriff's Office operates 20 Flock Safety automated license plate readers, plus another seven at Crossgates Mall, as of September 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Pittsboro Police Department
The Albany County Sheriff's Office has six drones, according to a 2022 report from the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU of New YorkCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.spotlightnews.com
In 2018, the New York Attorney General provided $69,151 to the Albany County Sheriff's Office for 43 body-worn camera systems, six body-worn camera docking stations, and other body-worn camera accessories.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New York Attorney General's Office
New York State Police
The New York State Police acquired cell-site simulator technology in 2005, according data compiled by Kevin Collier for Vocativ. Records show the agency used a Triggerfish from a helicopter as recently as 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): VocativKevin CollierNew York State Attorney General
The New York State Police uses the predictive policing program ShadowDragon.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New York Focus
The New York State Police has 126 drones, according to a 2022 report from the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU of New YorkCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.wkbw.com
The New York State Police paid $15,000 for Clearview AI face recognition licenses.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Buzzfeed Newswww.syracuse.com
The New York State Police acquired automated license plate readers as early as 2010 and used the technology to spy on citizens attending service at mosques.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Democrat & ChronicleHuffington PostELSAG
Colonie Police Department
The Colonie Police Department purchased 115 Axon body-worn cameras in 2023.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): WAMC
The Colonie Police Department has six drones, according to a 2022 report from the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU of New YorkCenter for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.spotlightnews.com
Menands Police Department
The Menands Police Department has one drone, according to a 2022 report from the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): ACLU of New York
Cohoes Police Department
The Cohoes Police Department received $15,500 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to purchase 16 body-worn cameras through the 2022 Small, Rural, Tribal BWC Microgrant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Small, Rural, and Tribal Body-Worn Camera microgrant grantee list
Bethlehem Police Department
The Bethlehem Police Department has been using automated license plate readers since at least 2021.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Bethlehem Police Annual Report
New York Department of Motor Vehicles
The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles uses face recognition but does “not permit any local, state or federal police department or government agency, including ICE, to access its photo database for face recognition purposes.” The DMV does have agreements to share data with the Connecticut, Maryland, and New Jersey Departments of Motor Vehicles, for the purpose of preventing fraud in the Commercial Driver’s License issuing process.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Electronic Frontier Foundation
New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision began using body-worn cameras in 2018.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New York Department of Correction and Community SupervisionNew York Department of Correction and Community SupervisionBody-Worn Camera Training and Technical Assistance
Albany Police Department
The Albany Police Department operates two drones as of 2019, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegewww.timesunion.com
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $133,305 to the Albany Police Department in 2015 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program. APD purchased 250 Axon body-worn cameras in 2017.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Times UnionU.S Department of Justice
The Albany Police Department uses ELSAG automated license plate readers, according to a 2015 policy document.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Albany Police DepartmentELSAG
Green Island Police Department
The Village of Green Island Police Department received a donation in 2019 to purchase automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Village of Green Island Industrial Development Agency
Capital Region Crime Analysis Center
The Capital Region Crime Analysis Center (also called the Albany Crime Analysis Center) is part of a network of 10 real-time crime analysis centers supported by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice. It is housed at the Albany Police Department's South station, but serves law enforcement agencies in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties. Established in 2009, it received a $370,000 expansion in 2016. According to a press release, the CAC "features a video wall measuring 4.5-feet high by 12-feet wide that displays multiple sources of data and information in real time, including the Albany Police computer aided dispatch log and public surveillance cameras" and crime-mapping capabilities.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New York State Division of Criminal Justice ServicesTimes UnionNew York Governor's Office
New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
The New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services maintains a voluntary registry of private and personal surveillance cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026