Police Cameras To Read License Plates

[lib2DaBone]

http://www.wmtw.com/news/21790156/detail.html

SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine --
Police in South Portland will soon use cameras to track down stolen cars and traffic offenders.

Starting next year, a camera will be mounted atop a South Portland police cruiser that is capable of reading license plates that the car passes in either direction.

Police departments in about two-dozen states use the system, called the Automated License Plate Reader.

Three cameras mounted to the cruiser's roof will be linked to an in-car computer. The pictures of each plate will instantaneously be checked against a database of wanted cars or drivers.

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NBC News reports that these cameras will also be linked into IRS computers to catch people who owe back taxes.

How about if you are late on your credit card payments.. or your house is getting foreclosed... or maybe your name is on the no-fly list because you smarted off to a TSA Security Guard? Let's go all the way and fill up those empty jail cells...

:sarcasm:

[slampoet]

1. Maybe they will catch the officers goofing off? The ones near me sleep in the parking lot next door.

[virgogal]

2. It's getting as bad as the U.K.

[ORDagnabbit]

3. big brother is watching

[villager]

4. Time for photo-blur license plate covers, I think:

http://www.buyradardetectors.com/products/veil/laser-veil-photo-blur-combo.aspx

[NightWatcher]

5. time to invest in a Photoblocker

http://www.phantomplate.com/


Damn, I wish these things really worked

[ecstatic]

11. cool nt

[SoCalDem]

6. Traffic cams are a sore subject in this household..

yesterday my husband got a "courtesy letter", along with photos of him and another guy going through an intersection as the light turned red.. (a car in front of them had stopped) and they were "blocking the box"..so they proceeded..(could not exactly back up).. and WHAM :)

A citation for $510.00 AND an additional charge of $54 for the option to go to traffic school (that costs extra, at the school)..

If he did not choose the traffic school option, our auto insurance could have increased by 20%..and the points would stay on his license for 3-7 years..

[Feron]

7. Even more unfortunate if you share the same name...

with a criminal and there is a clerical error. Or a computer error.

Great way to ruin someone's life.

It also makes spying on a person easier as well.

[aikoaiko]

8. Those survivalists who headed to the mountains don't seem so crazy anymore....

Seriously, I'm all for this. Its a good use of technology to get the folks who are wanted by the government. It will probably save lives.

It is a little spooky to be watched so much, but as long as they are only flagging wanted folks and not simply monitoring the whereabouts of ostensibly law abiding folks.

[MadHound]

9. And do you honestly think that is all that they're going to do?

Simply flagging wanted folks? Sorry, but there is already rampant abuse or surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies. We had a local cop who low jacked his ex's car, followed her around using that, not to mention that he also did some tracking using the local traffic cams. He was finally busted, but only after a couple of years and seriously harassing her.

Then there are the grand abuses, such as that which ATT aided, or various others. Sorry, but when it comes to surveillance of any type, it will be abused, frequently.

I'm happy that I live in a relatively poor, rural county where there isn't the population density or the money to keep putting up cameras on every street corner. Hell, out here they would probably be considered fair game for target practice.

[ecstatic]

10. I don't think it'll go as far as tracking people who owe private debts

The IRS thing is troubling but I doubt it will be used that way.

[truedelphi]

12. Thank you for the info on how to avoid big brother n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. If there were a police officer sitting in a speed trap...

And I drove by in a stolen car, I'd expect him to read my license plate and pull me over.

If I drove by with late credit card payments, I would not expect him to pull me over.

I see no reason to expect any different then a traffic camera, which pays more attention, works 24 hours a day, and won't tase me or my black passengers.