Surveillance Cameras To Scan License Plates

[patric]

(TULSA, Okla.) March 19 - An extra set of high tech eyes could be making
its way to the Tulsa Police Department.  This new equipment can spot a
stolen car with in seconds.
http://www.fox23.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=856a5ca0-76e2-4ca8-a256-6382af8368ff

So now TPD is testing the MPH 900 cameras that can read a license plate.
"All you got to do is drive and it's going to do it for you."  In that
time, the machine will alert Officer David Hickman if the tag is from a
stolen car.

It can even spot cars Officer Hickman didn't see.  "It reads it and
there's no way I could turn around and get all the information on the
tag. It can do it so much faster than a human can."

Officer Hickman says it's not just reading stolen car information.  The
system is linked directly to the National Crime Information Center.

So any cars that police believe are linked to crimes will set off the
alarm.  "That's going to lower the crime rate, because you're going to
get the shooting suspects and violent crime suspects off the streets."

Right now the Tulsa Police Department is doing a test with the camera
for about two weeks. They cost $20,000.

http://www.wired.com/cars/energy/news/2005/06/67864
http://www.remingtonelsag.com/mobile_hunter.htm
http://webserver.computoredge.com/editorial/2449/in1print.htm

[Mike G]

If it's the same one, I saw the test car a few weeks ago by UDE.  It had two large black camera boxes mounted to the trunk pointing forward off the car.  Hopefully they'll get the smaller ones that mount on the roof and have almost 360 degree viewing.  Of course that's a pretty penny for that system.  I didn't realize they were that expensive.

[sgrizzle]

Oh nos! Big brother, Real ID, skynet!


I would park these things on the major roadways going out of town. Theoreticaly, many stolen cars are driven straight out of town (or to a junk yard) and it'd be nice to stop them on the way out, or at least catalog where they're headed.

[TeeDub]

They can't afford cameras to help keep their officers safe and honest, but they can spend double that amount....    

Whatever... This just shows how broken the system is.

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by TeeDub


They can't afford cameras to help keep their officers safe and honest, but they can spend double that amount....    

Whatever... This just shows how broken the system is.

You wouldn't rather spend money to catch bad guys?  Really?

[TeeDub]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur


You wouldn't rather spend money to catch bad guys?  Really?

Honestly?   I think the protection of the public's civil liberties is more important than the few stolen cars a year this might catch.   According to the report, there are only 3500 cars stolen in the Tulsa area each year.  After viewing the crime map, from the TPD website, a surprising few of those are from south Tulsa.  (Apparently you need a car to get to where the nice cars are to steal.)

Long story short, no, protect my rights, those aren't covered by insurance.

[Wilbur]

quote:Originally posted by TeeDub

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur


You wouldn't rather spend money to catch bad guys?  Really?

Honestly?   I think the protection of the public's civil liberties is more important than the few stolen cars a year this might catch.   According to the report, there are only 3500 cars stolen in the Tulsa area each year.  After viewing the crime map, from the TPD website, a surprising few of those are from south Tulsa.  (Apparently you need a car to get to where the nice cars are to steal.)

Long story short, no, protect my rights, those aren't covered by insurance.

YEAH!  CRIME BE DAMNED!  To he!! with giving the police tools to catch the crooks.

Sad.

[Ed W]

So this system compares license plate images to a stolen car database as a patrol car moves past parked cars.  Would it be difficult to compile a database of ALL the cars it scanned and couple that to GPS information?  Then the police would have a list of cars parked outside a nightclub or a political rally.  On one hand, it might have a value in crime prevention but on the other it would have a chilling effect on free speech.

Or would I be wrong in imagining that police would find other uses for this system besides locating stolen cars?

[TeeDub]

How about we protect the police we have now before we start worrying about a few dollars worth of stolen cars.  

How about this:   If the insurance companies think car theft is so rampant, maybe they can buy these for the cops?    Oh wait...

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by Wilbur

YEAH!  CRIME BE DAMNED!  To he!! with giving the police tools to catch the crooks.

Maybe the point he was trying to make is that weeding out the bad cops is part of fighting crime, and that the tools to strengthen and defend the integrity of the department are worth more than the tools to address only a small niche of crime.

If this were "prioritized" over an honest dashcam system it would pretty well make a statement as to that integrity.

[TUalum0982]

quote:Originally posted by TeeDub


How about we protect the police we have now before we start worrying about a few dollars worth of stolen cars.  

How about this:   If the insurance companies think car theft is so rampant, maybe they can buy these for the cops?    Oh wait...

a few dollars of stolen cars? did you read the article? Do you know how NCIC works?? If someone gives the police a vehicle description and a tag # they can enter that into their police report, for example a hit and run, or a drive by.  Or vandalism, etc.  The system would then "flag" that car as a hit by NCIC.  This system does alot more then just scan for stolen cars.  I imagine it would also "hit" vehicles that have tickets/warrants tied to that particular tag # as well.

[unknown]

Umm, didn't anybody else notice that it reads and sends off an alarm if the plates come back with any info from the National Crime Information Center? Seems like a good idea to me to clean up the streets and take care of a lot of people with possible felony warrants and who knows what sort of trash from other states they would be able to catch and process here. Seems like the cameras would eventually pay for themselves.

[patric]

quote:Originally posted by Ed W

Would it be difficult to compile a database of ALL the cars it scanned and couple that to GPS information?  Then the police would have a list of cars parked outside a nightclub or a political rally.  On one hand, it might have a value in crime prevention but on the other it would have a chilling effect on free speech.

Or would I be wrong in imagining that police would find other uses for this system besides locating stolen cars?

In theory, the system could catalog a parking lot full of tags while driving by at 75 MPH, or oncoming traffic at 120 MPH, amassing huge amounts of data to be poured into a national database.  The potential for abuses ranging from data-mining to profiling stagger the imagination.

It would take some atrocity -- some real act of terrorism -- for us to dismiss this with a "its what we need to stay safe" erosion of civil liberty.  Meanwhile we'll have to keep our eye on those crazy Air National Guard pilots the old fashioned way... []

[TeeDub]

Do you all really believe this crap?

If there are warrants out for me they aren't associated with my car.   Tickets are written to a person.

Are you really going to start pulling over cars because someone who owned it (and could have since sold it) has tickets?   Come on, let's get real here.

[cannon_fodder]

Dear car thieves,

I know you are all really stupid, you can figure out how to pick locks and ignitions, arrange illegal titles, transfer stolen property to the highest bidder and run apperently complex rackets - but let me help you.  Before you steal the car steal a license plate from someone else.  Then when you steal the car you actually want just throw the plate in the river and replace it.

You have just defeated this amazing new system.
Bet they NEVER would have thought if that without me.  What?  They already do that?

Crazy.