ALTAMONT — The Altamont Police Department has been able to add and upgrade equipment thanks to a $70,000 state grant. 

Chief Todd Pucci said the funds, a Byrne Grant, are through the state’s Department of Criminal Justice Services. 

With the grant, Pucci said the department was able to purchase live scan fingerprinting.

“We had a digital fingerprint system in the past, but it became outdated,” Pucci said. “The state now requires fingerprints to be submitted digitally.”

Pucci said Altamont was able to use Guilderland’s system for a time, until Guilderland upgraded its fingerprinting equipment. “When they upgraded, we had to request permission from DCJS to submit paper fingerprints temporarily until we could get new equipment,” he said.

The new system cost about $21,000. 

Pucci said his predecessor, Jason Johnston, who was chief after Pucci initially retired, had secured a grant for a new fingerprint system, but the grant was canceled before the department could access the funds.

Another $22,000 will go toward placing cameras throughout the village, Pucci said, at Orsini Park, Bozenkill Park, and Village Hall, which is also the department’s headquarters.

The department is also upgrading its computer-aided dispatch system, Pucci said, which allows Altamont’s in-car computers to communicate directly with Guilderland’s dispatch system. 

Pucci said almost $18,000 will go toward the purchase of new license-plate readers; the department’s current readers are over 20 years old. “They still work,” he said, “but it’s time to upgrade.”

License-plate readers have raised concerns from privacy advocates for being used to record citizens’ movements. 

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding” about plate readers, Pucci said, stating that they “don’t provide personal information. They only read license plates and match them against a ‘hot list’ provided daily by the state police.”

He said if there’s a match, like a suspended registration or a warrant, it will alert the officer. “It doesn’t identify the driver or store any personal data,” Pucci said.