Are We Safer? License Plate Readers Will Tell Us…
So says Harvey E. Eisenberg, a Maryland Assistant U.S. Attorney, in this moment from Frontline’s new monthly magazine series. Watch:
The segment, titled Are We Safer, is reported by the WaPo’s Dana Priest:
Priest examines Maryland… Here, Gov. Martin O’Malley tells FRONTLINE how the
Department of Homeland Security backed his state’s efforts to track down terrorists, funding the creation of a “fusion center” to bring together data from new high-tech devices like license plate readers and CCTV cameras on street corners, and to combine it with the databases of local police and the federal government that are filled with tips and reports of “suspicious activity.”
License plate readers have been around for a long while. Here Deputy Ken demonstrates the license plate reader system used in central Florida in 2006:
We have two forward-facing cameras, a side-facing camera and a rear-facing camera. Each of those cameras can capture and check one plate every second. That’s going to give you about 3,600 plates per hour per camera, if you were actually to come across that much traffic.
All across the country police are touting their shiny new license plate reader systems. Smith & Wesson, the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States, bought into the license plate reader business in 2009.
Do license plate readers make you feel safer?
5 Responses to “Are We Safer? License Plate Readers Will Tell Us…”
I don’t know about “safer”, but I do feel less concerned about this from a personal liberty perspective than I do about facial recognition, Internet monitoring, or a national ID card. Not entirely sure why, I guess watching the whereabouts of my car don’t bother me as much as the “thought police” aspects of the rest of it …
Do I feel safer – NO!!
Did Rudi G’s data mining make us any safer?
The underwear bombers father warned us about his son. Did anyone act on that?
How many false names are in the DNFL? It keeps Cat Stevens out of the US. I feel safer with Cat Steven’s banned from airlines.
While all the high tech junk is interesting, it still takes a human agent to weed out all the BS.
I rather like the idea – even though I was a bit startled when pulled over a couple of years back. (The plate reader disclosed the fact my (late) wife – registered owner of the car – had not renewed her license.)
Stolen cars and unregistered cars are a big problem in my area,and the readers help alert cops to their presence.
For now, it seems to be more centered on making money.
But yes, I see a lot of potential for abuse. Why break into a home if it can be searched while no one is in? Why not use it to track your opposing candidates’ locations? Security and abuse prevention always seem to come as afterthoughts.
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