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What Happens When Police License Plate Readers Make Mistakes? (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes:
The Verge reports that San Francisco Bay Area police "pulled over a California privacy advocate and held him at gunpoint after a database error caused a license plate reader to flag a car as stolen, a lawsuit alleges." Brian Hofer, the chairman of Oakland's Privacy Advisory Commission, was handcuffed and surrounded by multiple police cars, and says a police deputy injured his brother by throwing him to the ground. They were finally released -- 40 minutes later. But ironically, Hofer has been a staunch critic of license plate readers, "which he points out have led to wrongful detentions, invasions of privacy and potentially costly lawsuits." (California bus driver Denise Green was detained at gunpoint when her own car was incorrectly identified as stolen -- leading to a lawsuit which she eventually settled for nearly $500,000.) And at least one thief simply swapped license plates with an innocent driver.
The executive director of Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, a state government program, acknowledged that the accuracy rate of the license plate readers is about 90 percent, yet "added that in some cases, the technology has actually exonerated people, or given potential suspects alibis. But there is no way for the public to know just how effective the license plate reader technology is in capturing criminals" -- apparently because police departments aren't capturing that data. Only one of the region's police departments, in Piedmont, California, reported its "efficacy metrics" to the agency -- with 7,500 "hits" which over 11 months led to 28 arrests (and the recovery of 39 cars) after reading 21.3 million license plates. The license plate readers cost $20,000 per patrol car.
In Hofer's case, he was driving a rental car which had previously been reported as stolen but then later recovered -- though for some reason the police or rental car agency failed to update their database. But he criticizes the fact that "somebody could pull a gun on your because of an alert that a computer system gave them."
"They're just pulling guns and going cowboy on us," Hofer says. "It's a pretty terrifying position to be in....
"This is happening more frequently than it should be. They're not ensuring the accuracy of their data and people's lives are literally at risk."
The executive director of Northern California Regional Intelligence Center, a state government program, acknowledged that the accuracy rate of the license plate readers is about 90 percent, yet "added that in some cases, the technology has actually exonerated people, or given potential suspects alibis. But there is no way for the public to know just how effective the license plate reader technology is in capturing criminals" -- apparently because police departments aren't capturing that data. Only one of the region's police departments, in Piedmont, California, reported its "efficacy metrics" to the agency -- with 7,500 "hits" which over 11 months led to 28 arrests (and the recovery of 39 cars) after reading 21.3 million license plates. The license plate readers cost $20,000 per patrol car.
In Hofer's case, he was driving a rental car which had previously been reported as stolen but then later recovered -- though for some reason the police or rental car agency failed to update their database. But he criticizes the fact that "somebody could pull a gun on your because of an alert that a computer system gave them."
"They're just pulling guns and going cowboy on us," Hofer says. "It's a pretty terrifying position to be in....
"This is happening more frequently than it should be. They're not ensuring the accuracy of their data and people's lives are literally at risk."
No it's not the norm. I was stopped once for running a red - it was a downhill intersection, covered in road salt, if I'd tried to stop before the light turned red I'd have lost control, no cross traffic, I made a judgement call, and when I explained this to the officer, he let me off with a warning. Another time I was pulled over for not having a registration sticker on my plate. When I showed the officer the car's registration paperwork, he sternly told me to get a sticker, and sent me on my way.
Cops are doing their job. Their job is to protect YOU, and they risk their lives to do it. They are the ones you want there when you are in trouble. You treat them with the respect they deserve, and they will treat you with the respect you deserve.
Actually, it went all the way to the Supreme Court that police in USA's job is not to protect the people. It's to prosecute crime.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_of_Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales/
Fixed the crappy formatting grouping related data to make it easier to read ...
1. Logging workers
Fatal injuries: 135.9 per 100,000 workers
2. Fishers and related fishing workers
Fatal injuries: 86 per 100,000 workers
4. Roofers
Fatal injuries: 48.6 per 100,000
5. Refuse and recyclable material collectors
Fatal injuries: 34.1 per 100,000 workers
6. Structural iron and steel workers
Fatal injuries: 25.1 per 100,000 workers
7. Driver/sales workers and truck drivers
Fatal injuries: 24.7 per 100,000 workers
8. Farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers
Fatal injuries: 23.1 per 100,000 workers
9. Construction and extraction supervisors
Fatal injuries: 18 per 100,000 workers
10. Agricultural workers
Fatal injuries: 17.4 per 100,000 workers
11. Grounds maintenance workers
Fatal injuries: 17.4 per 100,000 workers
12. Supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers
Fatal injuries: 15.7 per 100,000 workers
13. Construction laborers
Fatal injuries: 15.1 per 100,000 workers
14. Police and sheriffâ(TM)s patrol officers
Fatal injuries: 14.6 per 100,000 workers
15. Electrical power-line installers and repairers
Fatal injuries: 14.6 per 100,000 workers
16. Maintenance and repair workers
Fatal injuries: 13.4 per 100,000 workers
17. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
Fatal injuries: 13.2 per 100,000 workers
18. Landscaping supervisors
Fatal injuries: 13.2 per 100,000 workers
20. Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related workers
Fatal injuries: 11.7 per 100,000 workers
21. Operating engineers and construction equipment operators
Fatal injuries: 10.6 per 100,000 workers
22. Electricians
Fatal injuries: 10 per 100,000 workers
23. Industrial machinery workers
Fatal injuries: 9.3 per 100,000 workers
24. Painters
Fatal injuries: 8.6 per 100,000 workers
25. Heat, air conditioning, and refrigerator mechanics and installers
Fatal injuries: 8.4 per 100,000 workers
Plenty of privacy problems with ANPR, but thats not the problem here.
The problem is that American Police approach every situation with guns drawn. They are incapable of having a polite adult conversation with a person about an issue out of fear that person might have a gun.
the headline doesn't fit the story, there was nothing wrong with the police license plate reader and it didn't make a mistake, it worked perfectly. The mistake was that somebody forgot to update the database. None of the cases in the story support the notion the reader is at fault (so reading the actual licenseplate wrong), the problem lies with the database itself or criminals using duplicate licenseplates (well nobody can do anything about that until there is a way to make a licenseplate really unique so it can't be copied). An officer can't see if the person driving the vehicle is a person who stole the car or not, and having dealt with a lot of criminals who stole cars and didn't go quietly when stopped, you can ofcourse understand why cops react this way when stopping a carthief. Anybody can claim he/she is innocent.
In this case the people who forgot to inform the car was found should get a fine for not reporting it properly.
The article just underlines the fact the system actually works..