**
Dr. Eowyn posted: " It is not enough that the Obama regime's National
Security Agency (NSA) collects our every email, phone call, credit card
purchase, and bank transaction. Our police departments now have records on
the location and movement of your cars -- all done in " Respond to this
post by replying above this line
New post on *Fellowship of the Minds*
<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/eowyn2/> Police scanners
record the location and movement of every car in
America<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2013/07/17/police-scanners-record-the-location-and-movement-of-every-car-in-america/>
by
Dr. Eowyn <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/eowyn2/>
[image: Eye of
Sauron]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/eye-of-sauron.gif>
It is not enough that the Obama regime's National Security Agency (NSA)
collects our every email, phone call, credit card purchase, and bank
transaction. Our police departments now have records on the location and
movement of your cars -- all done in the name of protecting us from
"terrorists" and criminals.
The images of our cars and license plates are taken by automated scanners
affixed to bridges and buildings, or mounted on police cars, like the one
below.
[image: Police car with license plate scannerA Police Dept. squad car
outfitted with a license plate scanner mounted to the
trunk]<http://fellowshipofminds.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/pablo-martinez-monsivais-ap-an-alexandria-va-police-dept-squad-car-outfitted-with-a-license-plate-scanner-mounted-to-the-trunk.jpg>
*An Alexandria, VA Police Department squad car outfitted with a license
plate scanner mounted to the trunk (photo by Pablo Martinez/AP) *
But it turns out that license plate scanners actually produced only a small
fraction of "hits," or alerts to police that a suspicious vehicle has been
found. Which then begs the question of what's the *real* reason why our
government is recording our cars' every movement and location.
Anne Flaherty reports
for<http://news.yahoo.com/driving-somewhere-theres-govt-record-140052644.html>the
Associated Press, July 17, 2013, that your local or state police
departments have photographs of your car in their files, noting where you
were driving on a particular day, even if you never did anything wrong.
According to a study published July 17, 2013, by the American Civil
Liberties Union, *law enforcement agencies across America, using automated
scanners, have amassed millions of digital records on the location and
movement of every vehicle with a license plate,* Affixed to police cars,
bridges or buildings, *the scanners capture images of passing or parked
vehicles and note their location, uploading that information into police
databases. Departments keep the records for weeks or years, sometimes
indefinitely.*
As the technology becomes cheaper and more ubiquitous, and federal grants
focus on aiding local terrorist detection, even small police agencies are
able to deploy more sophisticated surveillance systems. *While the Supreme
Court ruled in 2012 that a judge's approval is needed to track a car with
GPS, 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 assemble what it calls a "single,
high-resolution image of our lives."
"There's just a fundamental question of whether we're going to live in a
society where these dragnet surveillance systems become routine," said
*Catherine
Crump, a staff attorney with the ACLU.* The civil rights group is proposing
that police departments immediately delete any records of cars not linked
to a crime.
Law enforcement officials said the scanners can be crucial to tracking
suspicious cars, aiding drug busts and finding abducted children. License
plate scanners also can be efficient. The state of Maryland told the ACLU
that *troopers* could "maintain a normal patrol stance" while *capturing up
to 7,000 license plate images in a single eight hour shift.*
"At a time of fiscal and budget constraints, we need better assistance for
law enforcement," said *Harvey Eisenberg*, chief of the national security
section and assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland.
Law enforcement officials also point out that *the technology is legal in
most cases, automating a practice that's been done for years. The ACLU
found that only five states have laws governing license plate readers.* New
Hampshire, for example, bans the technology except in narrow circumstances,
while Maine and Arkansas limit how long plate information can be stored.
"There's no expectation of privacy" for a vehicle driving on a public road
or parked in a public place, said *Lt. Bill Hedgpeth*, a spokesman for the
Mesquite Police Department in Texas, which has records stretching back to
2008, although the city plans next month to begin deleting files older than
two years. "It's just a vehicle. It's just a license plate."
In Yonkers, N.Y., just north of the Bronx, police said retaining the
information indefinitely helps detectives solve future crimes. In a
statement, the department said it uses license plate readers as a "reactive
investigative tool" that is only accessed if detectives are looking for a
particular vehicle in connection to a crime. "These plate readers are not
intended nor used to follow the movements of members of the public."
But even if law enforcement officials say they don't want a public location
tracking system, the records add up quickly. *In Jersey City, N.J., for
example, the population is only 250,000 but the city collected more than 2
million plate images on file.* Because the city keeps records for five
years, the ACLU estimates that it has some 10 million on file, making it
possible for police to plot the movements of most residents depending upon
the number and location of the scanners, according to the ACLU.
*The ACLU study*, based on 26,000 pages of responses from 293 police
departments and state agencies across the country, also *found that license
plate scanners produced a small fraction of "hits," or alerts to police
that a suspicious vehicle has been found. *In Maryland, for example, the
state reported reading about 29 million plates between January and May of
last year. Of that amount, about 60,000 — or roughly 1 in every 500 license
plates — were suspicious. The No. 1 crime? A suspended or revoked
registration, or a violation of the state's emissions inspection program
accounted for 97% of all alerts.
Eisenberg, the assistant U.S. attorney, said the numbers "fail to show the
real qualitative assistance to public safety and law enforcement." He
points to the 132 wanted suspects the program helped track. They were a
small fraction of the 29 million plates read, but he said tracking those
suspects can be critical to keeping an area safe.
Blah. Blah. Blah.
When will the American people wake up to the realization that, by
forfeiting our freedom and our privacy to Big Brother in exchange for the
elusive promise of "security," we have made a Faustian bargain?
*~Eowyn*
*Dr. Eowyn <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/author/eowyn2/>* |
July 17, 2013 at 8:12 pm | Tags:
ACLU<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=aclu>,
Catherine Crump<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=catherine-crump>,
Eye of Sauron <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=eye-of-sauron>,
Harvey
Eisenberg <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=harvey-eisenberg>, Lt.
Bill Hedgpeth <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=lt-bill-hedgpeth>,
surveillance
state<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?tag=surveillance-state>|
Categories:
conspiracy <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=11808>,
crime<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=34945349>,
National Security Agency <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=61115>,
Obama's America <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=12285619>, Police
state <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=35095733>,
Terrorism<http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=35034649>,
United States <http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/?cat=5850> | URL:
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