ACLU Protests Police Scanning License Plates

dustman81 writes "The ACLU is objecting to the practice of police in Springdale, Ohio using an automated license-plate scanner on patrol cars to locate stolen vehicles or those whose owners are wanted on felony warrants. The scanner can read 900 license plates an hour traveling at highway speeds. So far, the scanner has located 95 stolen cars and helped locate 111 wanted felons. The locations of the license plates scanned are tagged with GPS data. All matches are stored (with no expiration date given) and can be brought up later and cross-referenced on a map. If the plate is wanted, the times and locations of where it was scanned can be referenced. The Springdale police department hopes to begin using the system soon to locate misdemeanor suspects. This system is also in use in British Columbia."

Comments

Re:And they're going to lose..

[TeraCo]

Is it the efficiency or the fact that crimes are being solved that the ACLU is objecting to?

No tags?

[Speedracer1870]

So they can't track me if I don't have a tag displayed? (still waiting on plate and only have papers) Awesome! I guess I should go commit felonies and have lots of fun now...

Due process doesn't mean avoiding process

[IndustrialComplex]

In all honesty, I don't have much of a problem with this system. When it is applied to those accused of crimes, not only is it the responsability of the court system to provide you with a fair trial, but it is your responsability to engage in that process. If the government has upheld its side of the bargain by offering a fair trial, then I don't have any pity if your license plate is flagged.

Granted, this system should only record numbers that are registered to fugatives, and other situation within reason (Yes you can quibble about it, but I'm not going to enumerate the exact situations in a /. post) What is our job, is making sure that we block the laws that could abuse our rights, and make sure that there is clear oversight on the system. That is our part of the deal.

It could have been a sneaky survey....

[raehl]

If you want to find out where criminals live, send out a bunch of questionnaires asking what priority the police should put on arresting criminals. The people who respond that the priority should be low are your criminals, and now you know where they live!