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Judge Orders Fairfax Police To Stop Collecting Data From License Plate Readers (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tussle-continues dept.

A Fairfax County judge on Monday ordered the Fairfax County police to stop maintaining a database of photos of vehicle license plates, with the time and location where they were snapped, ruling that "passive use" of data from automated license plate readers on the back of patrol cars violates Virginia privacy law. From a report: The ruling followed a related finding by the Virginia Supreme Court last year, meaning the case could affect how long -- if at all -- Virginia police can keep license plate data. The ruling by Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Smith is a victory for privacy rights advocates who argued that the police could track a person's movements by compiling the times and exact locations of a car anytime its plate was captured by a license plate reader. Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin C. Roessler Jr. said Monday night that he would ask the county attorney to appeal the ruling.

The issue represents another front in the ongoing conflict over the use of emerging technologies by law enforcement. Police say they can, and have, used license plate location data to find dangerous criminals and missing persons. Privacy advocates don't oppose the use of the technology during an active investigation, but they say that maintaining a database of license plate locations for months or years provides too much opportunity for abuse by the police. Last month, the ACLU disclosed that the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was tapping into a vast, national database of police and private license plate readers. Such private databases remain unregulated.

4 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. One for the good guys by Sqreater · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But the general trend is against privacy. Police assume everyone is a criminal who has just not been caught yet. The presumption of innocence is dead.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
    1. Re:One for the good guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There is a difference between thinking/believing that everyone is a criminal, and wanting to have information to help capture criminals. They likely bought the license plate readers to help them find cars with unpaid tickets, or perhaps used to commit a crime. I cannot say if they had an altruistic concern when they bought the system, but I think we can give them the benefit of the doubt that they did.

  2. Re:Collecting plates at the buffet by DickBreath · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wouldn't mind them using the tech to deal with tickets, fines, warrants, etc. As long as they didn't keep the license plate time-location data beyond that point. In this case the tech would merely assist in police work.

    Some might argue that having a database of where every car has ever been in the past could also make police work easier. But in that case we are building the apparatus of a police state. Police work is always easy in a police state. They record all your calls, contacts, movements and associations.

    Using automation to identify a car with unpaid fines is merely providing assistance. Keeping a record of all other license plates read during the process is what crosses the line. Only keep a record of THIS car, at THIS location at THIS time, which is wanted for X.

    The problem with keeping a database of all "innocent" car time-locations is that we can not, and never will be able to trust the people who have this database. See all of human history. This is why it is a problem for the NSA to have similar databases of innocent people.

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  3. Re:This is good by sbrown123 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Actually it is not. They have had those since 2011. Here is an old article that gives details on how well they worked:

    "From February 2010 through the end of 2012, license plate readers helped the state police recover 529 stolen vehicles and 751 stolen license plates and arrest 229 wanted persons, Geller said. In one recent high-profile case, she said, the readers were used in investigating a string of arsons on the Eastern Shore last year."

    https://www.nbcsandiego.com/ne...

    These things were awesome and stopped a lot of crime in a short time.

    I am all against facial recognition. But cars aren't people. And driving is a privilege, not a right.