Police Have Collected Data on Millions of Law-Abiding Drivers Via License Readers
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Blogger Note: At Monday's Sept 11, 2017 Mesa City Council meeting there's an item on the Consent Agenda to approve more ALPR spending for the Mesa PD ... what do you know about it?
Here's some general background:
Automated License Plate Readers or ALPRs are high-speed cameras mounted on light poles and police cars that continuously scan the plates of every passing car. They collect not only the license plate number but also the time, date, and location of each plate scanned, along with a photograph of the vehicle and sometimes its occupants.
EFF filed public records requests for a week’s worth of ALPR data from the agencies and, along with American Civil Liberties Union-SoCal, sued after both agencies refused to release the records.
Now see this:
Now see this:
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Nullify Chapter 13: Stingrays, Drones and ALPRS
Published on Jan 12, 2017
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The ruling sets a precedent that mass, indiscriminate data collection by the police can’t be withheld just because the information may contain some criminal data. This is important because police are increasingly using technology tools to surveil and collect data on citizens, whether it’s via body cameras, facial recognition cameras, or license plate readers.
“The court recognized the huge privacy implications of this data collection,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer Lynch. “Location data like this, that’s collected on innocent drivers, reveals sensitive information about where they have been and when, whether that’s their home, their doctor’s office, or their house of worship.”
EFF and ACLU SoCal asked the state supreme court to overturn a lower court ruling in the case that said all license plate data—collected indiscriminately and without suspicion that the vehicle or driver was involved in a crime—could be withheld from disclosure as “records of law enforcement investigations.”
EFF and the ACLU SoCal argued the ruling was tantamount to saying all drivers in Los Angeles are under criminal investigation at all times.
The ruling would also have set a dangerous precedent, allowing law enforcement agencies to withhold from the public all kinds of information gathered on innocent Californians merely by claiming it was collected for investigative purposes.
EFF and ACLU SoCal will continue fighting for transparency and privacy as the trial court considers how to provide public access to the records so this highly intrusive data collection can be scrutinized and better understood.
Related Issues:
_________________________________________________________________________________Item from Regular Council Meeting August 21, 2017 Page 7
*5-m. Purchase of Two New License Plate Reader Camera Systems for the Police Department. (Citywide)
This purchase will provide two mobile License Plate Reader (LPR) camera systems, hardware and access to law enforcement only data, available through Vigilant Solutions*.
This equipment will assist the Department in strategizing a four-point approach to
- hot spots policing,
- intelligence lead policing
- problem oriented policing
- community policing.
The Police Department and Purchasing recommend authorizing the purchase using the City of Tempe cooperative contract with Vigilant Solutions LLC, at $85,657.77.
This purchase is funded: $79,060 by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community grant and $6,597.77 from the Police Department Restricted Funds budget.
* Vigilant Solutions is a Livermore, California firm with expertise in vehicle location and facial recognition analytics to help law enforcement agencies.
See also:
Thomson Reuters Brings Vigilant License Plate Recognition Data
to CLEAR Investigation Platform
Link > http://www.legalcurrent.com
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