New Scanners Raise Concerns About Driver Privacy
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently approved $500,000 in state grants to purchase Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems that will allow police officers to automatically retrieve information on passing drivers.
The devices - which are slated for use by 26 local police departments and the Massachusetts State Police - detect the license plate numbers of motorists through motion detectors or magnetic strips in the road. The ALPR systems then trigger visual or infrared flashes that show both the front and back license plates of cars. Police nearby can run the license information against a database. This instantly gives officers information on a driver's police and DMV records. If the driver has a previous traffic violation or other offense, it would be easy for the police to locate the driver and pull them over.
Those in favor of the technology say that ALPR systems will be an invaluable resource for police officers around the state.
"It's great for canvassing an area, say after a homicide if you are looking for a particular plate," police Captain Keith Houghton told the Boston Herald. "You can plug it in, and drive up and down side streets. It sounds an alarm if you get a hit."
As a result, supporters say, ALPR systems will quickly allow the police to identify and catch up to wanted criminals.
Detractors of implementing the new technology, like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), say that ALPR systems will open the floodgates to police harassment of motorists around the state. In addition, it is believed that information on motorists will be stored for any government agency to use even for motorists who have not broken any laws.
"People who aren't wanted for a crime, all of their information is stored in a database that is shared with another government agency," Kade Crockford of the ACLU told the Boston Herald. "The potential for abuse is very big. We don't think people who haven't committed a crime should be tracked by law enforcement." This would allow police to have a clear indication of where any driver may go or be at a given time, even if they have never committed a crime.