Category: Local News

by Eric Stromberg, 2026 Candidate for Los Alamos County Council

Every issue can be seen as a coin of two sides. So it is with the license plate readers. Have license plate readers been used to solve crimes and catch criminals? Yes, they have. Have they been used to find abducted children? Yes, they have. Wouldn’t it be nice if this “coin” only had this side? But, unfortunately, there’s another side.

The cameras communicate through the mobile phone network, the data are kept in the “cloud,” which is another name for someone else’s computer. There are extremely talented and committed hackers out there. In addition to hacking, there have also been instances where these cameras have been used by bad actors within law enforcement
for unofficial purposes. Yes, guardrails are in place, procedures for internal audits are in place, data encryption is in place, but this is only for our local LAPD users.

Companies like Axon collect far more data than they provide to LAPD, and that data never goes away and is sold to the highest bidder. Any system can be hacked, and we live in an area that is at the top of the list for hackers.

As with any technology, it must evolve to a point where the “tails” side of the coin doesn’t outweigh the “heads” side of the coin. Unfortunately, at this point, technology has not evolved to that
degree. In the meantime, the license plate readers should be taken down and put in storage.

Contact me at eric@electstromberg.com

1. Q. Describe your qualifications and experiences that have prepared you to serve as a County Councilor.
   A. I’ve been a member of the Board of Public Utilities
   for the past 6 years. In that time I have interacted
   with County Council, different boards, and County
   Legal. I’m familiar with the structure of County
   Government.
2. Q. The community consistently ranks affordable housing and economic development as top priorities for the County. What actions can the County Council take to address them?
   A. There is not as much available land as there are empty buildings. LANL is hiring more people and they will need places to live. I will work with the Council and LANL to investigate opportunities to work together to provide more
   housing. Building higher structures in the place of empty buildings might be an option.
3. A. This year, the County is updating its Comprehensive Plan, which articulates the County’s vision for land use, housing, transportation, economic development, and environmental stewardship. One of the most pressing issues is the question of growth. How much and where do you think the County should grow? What quality-of-life tradeoffs do you think the community will need to consider?
   A. The County does not have many options in terms of accessing more land. We are surrounded by DOE, tribal lands, and BLM. We can work with LANL to see if there are mutually beneficial opportunities. In terms of population growth,
   yes, there are trade-offs. More traffic, possibility for more crime. More kids in schools, altering the teacher-student ratio. Strained medical care. Growth is inevitable and these will be some of the challenges we will have to face.
4. Q. The County’s budget includes a substantial number of unfunded Capital Improvement Projects. How would you prioritize which projects to fund?
   A. Prioritize the projects that benefit the highest number of people and resonate with the community.