US Police track all drivers, says civil liberties group
Source: Agencies |
July 19, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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LAW enforcement agencies across the US have amassed millions of digital records on the location and movement of every vehicle with a license plate, according to a study by a prominent civil rights group.
A rapidly growing network of police cameras is capturing, storing and sharing data on license plates, making it possible to stitch together people's movements - whether they are stuck in a commute, making tracks to the beach or up to no good.
For the first time, the number of license tag captures has reached the millions, according to the study published on Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union based on information from hundreds of law enforcement agencies.
Departments keep the records for weeks or years, sometimes indefinitely, saying they can be crucial in tracking suspicious cars, aiding drug busts, finding abducted children and more.
Attached to police cars, bridges or buildings - and sometimes merely as an app on a police officer's smartphone - automated scanners capture images of passing or parked vehicles and pinpoint their locations, uploading that information into police databases.
Over time, it's unlikely many vehicles escape notice.
While the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that a judge's approval is needed to use GPS to track a car, networks of plate scanners allow police effectively to track a driver's location, sometimes several times every day, with few legal restrictions.
The ACLU says the scanners are assembling a "single, high-resolution image of our lives."
"There's a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said Catherine Crump, an ACLU attorney.
The group is proposing that police delete records of cars not linked to any crime.
Although less thorough than GPS tracking, plate readers can produce some of the same information, the group says, revealing whether someone is frequenting a bar, joining a protest or being unfaithful.
Law enforcement officials say scanners are very efficient. The state of Maryland told the ACLU that troopers could "maintain a normal patrol stance" while capturing 7,000 license plate images in an eight-hour shift.
"At a time of fiscal and budget constraints, we need better assistance for law enforcement," said Harvey Eisenberg, assistant US attorney in Maryland.
A rapidly growing network of police cameras is capturing, storing and sharing data on license plates, making it possible to stitch together people's movements - whether they are stuck in a commute, making tracks to the beach or up to no good.
For the first time, the number of license tag captures has reached the millions, according to the study published on Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union based on information from hundreds of law enforcement agencies.
Departments keep the records for weeks or years, sometimes indefinitely, saying they can be crucial in tracking suspicious cars, aiding drug busts, finding abducted children and more.
Attached to police cars, bridges or buildings - and sometimes merely as an app on a police officer's smartphone - automated scanners capture images of passing or parked vehicles and pinpoint their locations, uploading that information into police databases.
Over time, it's unlikely many vehicles escape notice.
While the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that a judge's approval is needed to use GPS to track a car, networks of plate scanners allow police effectively to track a driver's location, sometimes several times every day, with few legal restrictions.
The ACLU says the scanners are assembling a "single, high-resolution image of our lives."
"There's a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said Catherine Crump, an ACLU attorney.
The group is proposing that police delete records of cars not linked to any crime.
Although less thorough than GPS tracking, plate readers can produce some of the same information, the group says, revealing whether someone is frequenting a bar, joining a protest or being unfaithful.
Law enforcement officials say scanners are very efficient. The state of Maryland told the ACLU that troopers could "maintain a normal patrol stance" while capturing 7,000 license plate images in an eight-hour shift.
"At a time of fiscal and budget constraints, we need better assistance for law enforcement," said Harvey Eisenberg, assistant US attorney in Maryland.
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