New License Plate Scanner Finds Stolen Cars

Arizona’s Department of Public Safety is testing a new scanner in police cars that can read the license plates of passing cars. The system then sends the information through a computer, and if a suspect plate goes by an alarm sounds. Now, police officers say they’re lucky to run 40 plates on a normal day. The new system can run 1,500 a day.

Privacy advocates are alarmed because the information gathered — even from non-offending vehicles — is stored for up to three months. This is to prevent fraud, as well as to help car owners who don’t realize their car has been stolen for an extended period of time.

[DPS Tests Devices That Scan All Plates Going By, The Arizona Daily Star]

Comments

Why don't we just phone the police in the morning and tell them where we are going today?

Scottsdale, AZ, my hometown, is the first Fascist city in the country. Private enterprise here is soley geared towards a police state...Taser is just the tip of the scarey iceberg...don't get me going on photo radar and photo red-light cameras.

i was in scottsdale back when they litup the one freeway with miles of traffic cameras. That stretch of road was actually made to be fast with lots of juicy curves. surprise, people were going to fast on it and got in accidents. then they add a bunch of cameras to ticket people. Why not just build a slower highway in the first place?

Wait til all models in 2008 having GPS required factory auto tolls auto tickets and auto direct deposit fines. If the liberals get it through.

I think computer-assisted licence plate recognition is a wonderful idea.

I think keeping a 3-month database of where a given car was at a certain date/time is a terrible idea.

Just scan the plates, check if they are suspicious, and arrest the driver if so. Then throw away the data.

Driving in not a right it is a privilege in the eyes of the law. And Dp American what is your problem with the taser. It has saved countless lives. I am in Law enforcment and I cant count the number of times fellow officers have used the taser instead of other options that are more dangerous. granted I do not agree with the storing for 3 months, I think this peice of equipment is great. I would be so lucky to have one where I work. The possibilitys this equipmet holds is endless from bail jumpers to kid nappers this system could help in all of them.

I have to laugh at the idea of the "liberals" being for more surveillance.... given who is doing the wiretapping.

i can see it now - more times to sit on the side of the road and let the machine doing all the work - enjoys the coffee and donuts boys!!! No wonder law enforcement officers loved the machine?!

I don't know if this will even be posted but here goes. We are letting big brother set up the new world order where everyone and I do mean everyone will be tracted. It will come that we will not be able to travel or buy anything with out be tagged. Think about it!

Solely, not soley.
Too fast, not to fast.
Piece, not peice.
Possibilities, not possibititys.
Tracked, not tracted.

Tagged.....cell phone...all i have to say is cell phones. scarey when you think of how much people do over there cell phone these days too.

This idea begs a deeper philosophical debate- If our judicial system is based upon the premise that most people are law-abiding citizens, then why do so many people have a problem with being monitored? ie- If you're not breaking the law, why do you care if the police know where you are? Same thing goes for traffic and stoplight cameras.

Good point...except who is really making the laws in our country? Not so long ago laws told black people where they could legally sit on public buses...who will make the next law allowing certain people (whose character/physical traits are irrelevant to the law of course) to be in certain places, drive at certain speeds, on certain streets etc.? Misguided laws can happen, and absolute enforcement isn't always such a great thing.

>This idea begs a deeper philosophical debate- If our judicial system is based upon the premise that most people are law-abiding citizens, then why do so many people have a problem with being monitored? ie- If you're not breaking the law, why do you care if the police know where you are? Same thing goes for traffic and stoplight cameras.

This debate is not about safety but about control. This how the control wheel runs over the average citizen.