A previous post focused on the extent of Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) in Chicago. It noted there were at least 75 locations (both fixed and mobile) operated by the police or OEMC that use ALPR. The post explores the effectiveness of the ALPR technology. For three different sources, here are some statistics on their effectiveness:
In the first ten months of the cameras (starting from January 2006), they had recovered 310 vehicles for the first 2.3 million plates scanned – see Sun-Times from Nov. 2006. By May 2007, there were 725 vehicles recovered and 6.5 million plates scanned. By spring 2009, there were over 13 million plates scanned and 1000 vehicles recovered. (The data also includes arrests). Here is a graph of the recovered vehicles over time:
I was a bit surprised when I saw these results (based on three data points). I would have expected a high rate of recovered cars initially and then a gradual taper to a plateau. First, I don’t have the most reliable data sources. Second, I don’t know much about the circumstances of how these cameras were deployed (how the cameras come online, how they were deployed, where they were use).
The average is one recovered car per day (using over 75 cameras). There are also 325,000 license plates scanned every month on average. If every camera is working equally, this works out to 144 license plates scanned per day with each of the 75 cameras. This is a very low number, because some of these cameras are capable of scanning 3,600 license plates per hour! I have no idea why this discrepancy exists.
I can’t fully explain this data, but I thought it would be useful to publish it. Please let me know if you have any explanations.
rshah ALPR, Chicago
[From The Wired Repo Man - He’s Not ‘As Seen on TV’ - NYTimes.com]
ALPR is moving beyond law enforcement and finding other uses. This article shows how repossession agents are using ALPR to find vehicles that are delinquent. The repo agent drives around until their ALPR finds a car that is delinquent (one rep man uses a ka-ching cash register sound for successful matches). The database of delinquent cars comes from MVTRAC, which has a national database of around 100,000 cars. The article also contains a sidebar on the potential privacy issues.
rshah ALPR
Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) is used throughout Chicago. It’s installed in over 40 vehicles. There are also 36 fixed locations. In 17 of those, license plate recognition occurs through real-time video. This is a major development. Using video from a pod camera, it is possible to automatically scan and process a license plate. Here is a summary from an article at officer.com:
Chicago-based EyeNet Enforcement Systems offers technology that can read license plates from video captured by the POD cameras. The camera and license plate reader system is approximately $10,000, and can be used with an existing camera. Some PODs are programmed to point in the direction provided by gunshot sensors and link with EyeNet’s license plate reader system.
Tom Tarach, CEO of EyeNet, says there were challenges with the implementation. “This had never been done before, but the Chicago Police Department was determined to make it work,” Tarach says. “With a few tweaks and adjustments we found we had a working system that could scan license plates from a video stream.” Tarach adds the Chicago police now have two EyeNet readers which can easily process real-time video streams from any of the city’s wireless POD cameras.
ALPR is also installed on the street sweepers. The system photographs license plates of illegally parked vehicles that block the path of the street sweeper, and a violation notice gets sent to the vehicle’s owner. The entire operation is fully automatic, requiring no training or action from the operator. I am not sure how extensive the street sweeper program is at this time.
rshah ALPR, Chicago
ANPR is widely used in the UK. License plate recognition is an important part of the “ring of steel” around London. According to the Register, there are over 10,000 license plate cameras in the UK, which are reading 14 million plates into a national database (National ANPR Data Centre). The data, including a picture of the plate, is saved for 2 years.
A recent story in the Independent, highlighted some potential problems with relying on ANPR. The story reports that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) database is “at least 30 per cent inaccurate” in the UK. This has led to the wrongful arrests and car seizures. Moreover, “In 2008, 16-year-old Hayley Adamson was killed by a Northumberland police officer responding at high speed to incorrect information on the ANPR. The officer was jailed last year.”
The UK’s experience is important for the US. As ALPR gains momentum in the US, lets look for ways to use it effectively.
rshah ALPR
[From Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors - Boing Boing]
One of the concerns about surveillance cameras is the potential for government abuse. One form of abuse is using the cameras to target a political group. A historical example is the Red Squad. In this article, it claims the police added vehicles to a watch list because they attended a political protest. Once added to the watch list, a vehicle is going to be pulled over and searched. ANPR (license plate recognition) technology is used to identify a vehicle.
I hope the facts are wrong in this story. But its a chilling example of how surveillance systems can impinge on the freedom of citizens.
And, of course, police officers are less than discriminating about who they add to this list. For example, “Catt, 50, and her 84-year-old father, John” were added to the list because a police officer noticed their van at three protest demonstrations. And now Catt and John get pulled over by the police and searched as terrorists.
. . .
Officers have been told they can place “markers” against the vehicles of anyone who attends demonstrations using the national ANPR data centre in Hendon, north London, which stores information on car journeys for up to five years.
rshah ALPR
A couple of developments from the Chicago Tribune, WBBM 780, Security Park
The first is cameras at CTA stations. Teleste Corp. of Georgetown, Texas, will install high-resolution digital cameras at all 144 CTA rail stations by 2011. The new cameras will be capable of showing facial features. I think its a good assumption that facial recognition technology will also be deployed at the stations.
The second is a satellite-based monitoring system which will track the real-time location of about 2,000 CTA buses. The OEMC states that this will allow for a better gauge of traffic flow. Currently, buses are GPS enabled on more than 150 routes. This data can be seen at ctabustracker.com. (I don’t fully understand this development, is there new data? or just the OEMC is going to start analyzing it?)
The CTA also deferred a contract with a security services. According to the CTA, “A more cost-effective approach would be to install security systems that alert authorities immediately of signs of forced entry or tampering.” So the CTA is in the market for a smart camera system for security.
Finally, Illinois Police now have access to a large database of license plates associated with revoked/suspended drivers licenses. This adds considerable utility to the ALPR system in Illinois.
rshah ALPR, Chicago
[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.
rshah ALPR
[From BBC NEWS | Camera grid to log number plates]
The BBC is reporting that a nationwide system of monitoring license plates will be in place in a few months in Britain. The government is tying together various ANPR systems into one central computer. There are no limits on how this information can be used by police according to the article.
This will provide the police with unprecedented knowledge of its citizens’ movements. Just as governments can easily monitor all our activities online, the same is becoming true for real life.
Its only a matter of time until a similar network is setup in the US. ANPR/ALPR is a very useful technology, but is also has significant privacy implications that need to be addressed. I have previously mentioned the long term storage and sharing issues and the abuses with ALPR. These issues need to be addressed.
rshah ALPR, Policy
[From Fla. police cameras analyze thousands of license tags via Sun-Sentinel]
ALPR data provides police with the location of a specific car. This data is typically used to identify stolen vehicles, vehicles associated with an Amber Alert, parking tickets, and congestion charges.
One issue the article raises is how long should this information be stored (and who should have access to it over the long term). After all, the Broward Sheriff’s Office has 35 systems located on patrols cars and fixed locations and scans an average of 300,000 plates a month. The resulting data over a period of months and years can provide significant details about the use of a car.
As the article notes, some cities are storing this data permanently. They may also be sharing this information. This means any police officer can type in a license plate and then have a location history of the vehicle.
There is no bright line between the value of this data for later investigative police work versus its encroachment on privacy. From a gut level, I believe this information should be deleted after 30 days or at most 1 year (depending on what its being used for, e.g. finding stolen cars versus congestion charges) unless it is needed for an investigation. I also think access to this information should be limited, e.g., reasonable suspicion requirement.
rshah ALPR
[From Traffic cameras could help wipe out city's projected deficit :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: City Hall]
Insurenet proposes that Chicago could make “well in excess of $100 million. We think at least $200 million.” All they would have to do is use traffic cameras to collect license plate numbers and then match the numbers with those of uninsured motorists. A traffic camera would then read a license plate, if it was uninsured, it would then send a ticket in the mail. To accomplish this, Chicago would also need to compel insurance companies to report the names and license plates of insured motorists into the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), the information-sharing network that links federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Does anybody see any problems in this scheme? The readers of the Sun-Times offered quite a few.
1. The numbers don’t seem to add up. Frankly, I couldn’t understand the figures from the newspaper article. But basically, the city would need on the order of 700,000 tickets per year to generate this revenue. Thats a lot of tickets.
2. The levied fines seem disproportional. Fining someone that doesn’t have insurance on the car a $1000? What are the odds that they could either afford to pay or be willing to pay the fine?
This brings me to something called unintended consequences.
People without insurance (they know who they are) will now have a bullseye on their car (aka the license plate). They will have a $1000 incentive to make sure they do not receive a fine. They may try to disguise their plate or avoid traffic cameras. Or they might be willing to go down the slippery slope of illegality by telling the city an incorrect address for their car registration or making sure the license plate on their car isn’t theirs. This is a slope the city doesn’t want people to venture. Once citizens muck with the connection between license plates and their registration, it throws the whole enforcement mechanism for many sorts of issues awry.
I think fines for uninsured motorists are a good use of traffic cameras. But lets use it as a tool to push people to buy insurance and not as a way to unfairly punish people, who will likely become even harder to catch.
rshah ALPR, Red Light Cameras
Recent Comments