[Scan-DC] License Plate Readers

[Brooks, Kurt]

I have not read through all the responses so forgive me if anything I am writing has been said. I spent 4 hours on a Friday night in December with a USPP dwi patrol shooting a story about drunk driving. On the sgt's cad it kept alerting on several fixed license plate cameras around the area. Each time a car that was flagged in the system drove by the computer made an alert sound and a machine voice announced "Suspended License", "Emissions Suspension" or even "Felony Homicide" as if certain tags were put in the system for lookouts.

It seemed apparent that the system is available multi jurisditionally - that everyone in the area has access to it. Also the volume of alerts was astounding - at least every 10 seconds a tag got a hit.

Finally, as busy as the sgt was I was driving with, it was information overload. He hit the mute on the alerts and ignored them the whole night - he had his own fish to fry. And seriously, the number of felony hits I was hearing was astounding, yet he didn't bat an eye.

I am not a fan of big brother but it's obvious he's already here. At least at this moment it looks like the balance between information gathered and what can be done with it has yet to equalize.

________________________________________
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Fourwd1 [fourwd1 at netzero.com]
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2013 1:13 PM
Cc: Scan-DC
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] License Plate Readers

The system compares tag numbers it captures to an on board data base that is updated daily. Then alerts the officer when there is match.

Sent from my iPhone


>
> I'm curious about just how this all works. Is someone watching a monitor in
> real time when alerted to a crime to see if a suspect vehicle passes
> through an intersection? Or is the information just stored and searched
> later to establish a time that a certain vehicle passed the camera? Plus,
> how good are they? On one hand, we have the total fiction of TV, mainly CSI
> shows and most Bellisario productions (NCIS et al), where someone types
> rapidly on a keyboard while looking at a fuzzy picture of a car and they
> are able to zoom in, enhance the image, and get a clear view of the license
> plate -- all in an instant -- and then plug the number into the DMV and get
> a full history on someone. On the other hand, it looks like the boot crews
> on "Parking Wars" are using this technology to scan plates as they drive
> around looking for ticket offenders -- with a pretty high rate of success
> on the hits.
>
> I'm also concerned about the "Big Brother" aspect of all of this, from the
> government watching where people go and keeping track of that information.
> Yeah, the system may catch the occasional criminal, but the information
> could easily be used in other ways, from the government and businesses
> tracking employees (some companies already track via a GPS in a company car
> or truck) to an attorney getting the data to slam someone in a civil suit
> or divorce ("you say you were at your office all day, yet this photo shows
> your car passing through this intersection close to the No-Tell Motel. Were
> you headed to a secret rendezvous with your mistress?"). The upside, if
> there is one, was listed in the article, where the student researcher said
> he could track where the police had traveled based on the camera data. This
> could be used to show that someone is doing his job or is slacking off
> based on travels on his beat.
>
> Bruce in Blacksburg
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