The trouble with crime-fighting automated license plate readers
Eleven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police need a warrant before a GPS tracking device can be attached to someone’s car.
Eleven years later, police all around the country are tracking cars through license plate readers that do the same job with no warrant required. These license plate readers are mounted alongside roads and on police cars. There is no limit to the imagination as to the places they could be (and are) installed.
The system is considered helpful whenever it catches real criminals, but without regulation, innocent people can suffer from unnecessary surveillance.
The Illinois Northwest Herald questions whether these devices could give law enforcement (or the government) the ability to track innocent citizens as they go to “protests, a church, a bar, a union meeting, a cancer treatment center, a political protest or a therapist?”
Could a family member of a registered citizen be targeted just because their car has to be registered? That is a constant concern for me.
Florida, along with all states, needs to make sure that this particular tool used by law enforcement is closely regulated so that no rogue officer can misuse it.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
With all the technology out there, nothing surprises me any more, except for one thing. Whenever I go grocery shopping I always use cash. I only use my debit card at ATMs to get cash, and I don’t use credit cards. I normally shop at Kroger, but on occasion I might go to my local Meijer just for a change, maybe once a month. At the checkout, I only pay with cash. I don’t have any kind of rewards card or anything like that. A couple weeks later, I’ll get a book of coupons in the mail from Meijer with my name and address on the envelope, and the coupons are for the exact same items I had just bought. I thought maybe it was just a fluke, so a month ago I bought some completely different items that I’ve never bought before, and sure enough just yesterday I get coupons in the mail for those exact items/
My question is, if I’ve never given my name and address to anyone at my local Meijer, and always pay with cash, instead of a debit or credit card which could easily discern my identity, how the hell does Meijer know what I’m buying and where I live?
Yes, very scary! Just driving one’s own car puts you in jeopardy for doing nothing!
No regulation will stop these kinds of systems from being abused. it would be more effective to call it what it is – unauthorized surveillance – and bar any information gleaned from its use from being used as evidence. And to authorize a civil penalty if the information is disclosed or published.
Another variation on a theme cops do is “Fog reveal” that collects metadata from the geo-location on one’s cell phone. They’re basically tracking people without a warrant. The authorities claim they can establish “patterns of life” and use that in future investigations.
“Pro-active” policing is just a euphemism for
circumventing the constitution If the cops can’t find a loophole, they will create one while closing all of ours.
You have a good point. The federal government is worried about TikTok being evasive and intruding on privacy but yet they are trying to be more so by allowing states to follow these procedures.
“In Alabama, Troy University installed license plate readers this month at all campus entrances and exits that alert campus police when registered sex offenders or those with felony warrants show up.”
The term Police State is getting waaaaay too close for comfort.