License Plate Scanners: Fighting Crime or Invading Privacy?
[From License Plate Scanners: Fighting Crime or Invading Privacy? - TIME]
A short story in Time magazine on ALPR. The privacy angle is very interesting.
Some basic background:
In a typical 10-hour shift, Gomez says, a police officer traditionally could run perhaps 100 license plates through the system — calling the information in or typing into a computer, then waiting for a response. In comparison, says Gomez, the APLR system can process between 2,000 to 2,500 license plate “hits” per patrol car in that same 10-hour shift.
The scanners, which cost about $20,000 each, are mounted on a patrol car and use character recognition software to read numbers and run them through databases. The LAPD has 26 scanners all over the city searching for stolen autos, cars associated with crimes and Amber Alert vehicles. In New Haven, Connecticut, police are using the scanners to track parking scofflaws, while Palm Beach County, Florida uses the technology to follow gang members.
The interesting part of the story is around privacy – I added the emphasis:
What concerns the American Civil Liberties Union and others is the accumulation and storage of the vast amounts of data collected by the scanners. “We were disturbed when we began to see the technology used as a generalized surveillance tool,” says Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the ACLU. Privacy advocates worry, for example, that the data could be used to examine who attended an political event or protest.
The LAPD’s data storage is a particular concern, Stanley says. Before putting the scanners in the field, the department met with the ACLU and discussed concerns, according to LAPD Police Commander Patrick Gannon. “We would like to be able to use them for other things, but there was a lot of push back on that and so they are limited to certain units and uses like auto theft,” Gannon says.
However, the database is maintained so that it can be reviewed in Amber Alert cases or mined for leads in certain criminal cases. For example, if a detective in a bank robbery case has a partial license plate number, he or she can request a review of scans in the vicinity of the crime. Gomez says the request must go through well-defined channels and protocols; investigators cannot simply call up the data independently.
I applaud the LAPD for its incorporation of procedures for accessing ALPR data. The ALPR data is really a privacy nightmare and a big brother issue. Hopefully, other agencies and departments will also ensure the data is properly utilized.
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