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UK Police Expand License Plate Camera Systems
An anonymous reader writes "According to this article at the BBC British Police forces are widening their use of automatic License Plate recognition. One of the police officers involved says 'we can effectively deny criminals the use of the roads.' For those who don't know central London already has a network of number plate recognising camera systems to support the Congestion Charge system."
erm, no. This will still prevent most known criminals, or ones that have been identified on the fly from escaping detection and tracking. In the cases you described the police should be notified that the car/plate has been stolen and so the system works (maybe slowly). I don't disagree that they can still track innocent people and George Orwell, et. al. are rolling in their graves (or beds if they're still alive). However, like so many tools, it has both an intended good use and a possible misuse. Same as DeCSS, a crowbar, or any number of examples seen on /. everyday.
I don't know about the UK, but in the USA its illegal to have your plate obscured for any reason, and is a ticketable offense. Moreover, its mandatory that a police officer run your plates/license whenever they ticket you, so if you get pulled over for having obscured your plate then you're just as screwed as if they knew it was you from the beginning.
"Stumble before you crawl"
Taxing works differently in the UK, and this is a British story. They carry a tax disk on the inside of the wind screen. Those things you call "tags" are registration plates, not license plates.
The kidney won't help you: the police in England are currently prosecuting an ambulance driver for speeding while transporting a liver for transplant. Insane, but there's nothing to stop them doing it...
It's the automatically part I object to.
Accidentally slipping 1mph over the limit is overlooked by policemen/women checking speeds with their radars, but wouldn`t be by an automatic system.
It`s the idea that justice is a simple boolean issue that bothers me.
For what it's worth, I agree with you about driving like an arse
\\ Mitch
Weren't the Washington snipers caught through their plates?
I know you were being sarcastic, but I wanted to throw in a serious example to back you up.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
You're from washington usa, so I'll share this little bit of info with you.
= se ction§ion=46.16.240]
according to http://www.dol.wa.gov/vs/tr-replacement.htm it refers us to (RCW 46.16.240)
[http://www.leg.wa.gov/RCW/index.cfm?fuseaction
"It is unlawful to use any holders, frames, or any materials that in any manner change, alter, or make the vehicle license number plates illegible. It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any vehicle unless there shall be displayed thereon valid vehicle license number plates attached as herein provided."
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
It's the automatically part I object to.
I don't know how this works where you are, but I can tell you something about how speed cameras were implemented in New Zealand. The police in NZ already use a rule of thumb that anything up to 10 kph over the limit does not get a ticket. Speed cameras were implemented with a similar rule in mind, and in fact the way it used to work was that only the top 15% or so of speeders would get a ticket, so that if most people were speeding on a particular stretch of road, only the worst offenders were prosecuted. Recently the policy has changed so that the 10 kph rule is now uniformly applied, but that still means that you will not get a ticket for just being slightly over the limit.
Do you live in the UK? In case not, I'll inform you that there is an extensive network of speed cameras in this country, widely considered to be ludircous profit making machines for the police on many roads. However, they don't just fine you for speeding, the put 3 points on your licence. This means that, for being caught going 5mph over the limit, twice, you could get *BANNED* from driving. Still think it's reasonable for the police to be able to track anyone who 'isn't 100% legal'?
The police in this country abuse the law, are effectively the government's hitmen, and they ought to have some fucking accountability. Instead of that, they just turn the roads into more of a frightening place for the average motorist each and every day.
== Jez ==
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