KINGSTON – Maintenance workers at the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge are claiming that management installed spy cameras in their locker room. New York State Bridge Authority Executive Director Tara Sullivan has denied the accusations but acknowledged the use of the cameras.
The workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they discovered the “spy-cams” in September when Bridge Authority CFO Brian Bushnek was conducting an asset inventory in the bridge’s office building next to the toll plaza.
The room where the cameras were discovered was used as a locker room for half of the work crew as well as an office for the assistant foreman, Mr. Gravino. There is no divider between the office space and the locker room, according to the employees.
The second half of the work crew was using an upstairs locker room due to COVID distancing policies.
One of the employees who was made aware of the cameras notified the New York State Police. A uniformed trooper from the Hurley barracks responded and conducted a preliminary investigation and Bureau of Criminal Investigation Investigator Johnson followed-up with interviews of the employees. No other information was available from the State Police.
Executive Director Sullivan called the report “incorrect.” She said, “There is no investigation by the State Police and there have been no cameras placed at the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge facility where there would be a reasonable expectation of privacy such as a locker room or changing room.”
Sullivan allegedly held a cursory meeting on September 29 with the bridge workers in a garage bay and told them that a crime had been committed and an investigation had been authorized by herself and other ranking bridge authority officials. Workers say that at no time during the meeting did Sullivan indicate that two spy cameras were being placed in the facility.
NEWS STORY PROVIDED BY: Mid Hudson News -www.midhudsonnews.com