Concerned about "privacy" of where you're at or who's watching? Read

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...esplates_15eas.ART.East.Edition1.430b966.html

System scans license plates, talks to officer

Mesquite: Database of stolen cars, sex offenders checked

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, April 15, 2007
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News


PlateScan may not be KITT, the "smart car" of the 1980s TV series
Knight Rider, but it's pretty darn close.

"It's like putting four extra officers in a squad car who are
extremely alert and have perfect memories," said Mesquite Police Chief
Gary Westphal.

His department is the first in Texas to get the system, a combination
of cameras and computers that "remembers" every license plate number
it "sees" as an officer cruises the streets or the parking lot lanes
at Town East Mall.

The system also records a color photograph of the vehicle, with the
date, time and location as determined by Global Positioning System
satellites.

And it checks each plate number against databases that include stolen
and wanted cars and registered sex offenders. When it gets a hit, a
robotic voice alerts the officer – just as KITT did.

"We started the program Feb. 28," said Lt. Steve Callarman, a Mesquite
police spokesman. "They have cleared at least four stolen vehicles."

There have been many more alerts, but automated record-keeping is
still being installed, so precise numbers aren't available yet.

In one case, a man in a stolen vehicle drove past a parked squad car
while the officer was out on a call. When the officer returned to the
squad car, he was "told" about the stolen car, and it was recovered
not far away.

In another incident, a school resource officer reported the plate
number of a car driven by a man acting suspiciously near school
grounds. A check of the database generated by the PlateScan systems
found that the car had been "seen" parked at a store in Mesquite,
which gave officers a picture of the car and an area to focus on.

If officers get a partial plate number from a witness to a crime, they
can run that information through the PlateScan database. If the
suspect's car has been photographed by the system at any time, it will
show up, providing information that can help identify and locate a
suspect.

Other area police departments – Plano, Richardson, Garland, Carrollton
and Irving among them – are interested in the technology, Chief
Westphal said. Houston has ordered one of the systems and expects it
to be installed in a few weeks.

Several police agencies in California and New York state are using the
system, according to Bob Pinzler, corporate spokesman for Civica
Software, which makes PlateScan.

He said the technology was first used in the United Kingdom as an anti-
terrorism system.

In Mesquite, money seized from drug dealers covered the roughly
$40,000 cost of equipping two squad cars.

Chief Westphal saw an early version of the system at an International
Association of Chiefs of Police conference several years ago and liked
its potential.

"I knew some improvements needed to be made," he said. "Once we were
comfortable with it, I wanted to pull the trigger and get going."

"It's not perfect," the chief said. "It sometimes misreads a number or
letter. But our officers confirm the information on their portable
computers before taking action.

"I have seen a lot of technologies come into law enforcement in my 35-
year career, but this is one of the best."

 

They try and justify this as being for our "safety". They say "the
license plate is out in the open anyway". Gee, that's about as dumb of
a fucking redneck remark as you can get!

If it's "out in the open anyway", I want to have the same availability
to this technology so I can drive through the parking lots of the
court houses and police departments and gather up the registration
information of the judges and police officers who park their cars.

I wonder how long it would take for the asswipes who "patrol" and
gather information from the license plates to scream about a
"violation to their privacy" when the ordinary citizen then has access
to *their* information?

Next thing you'll know, police will be arresting motorcyclists who ask
why they need to provide a place of employment to the police when
stopped for a traffic offense....oh wait, that's already happening in
some places. I *still* need to get that civil complaint filed in
Arkansas!

 

Actually I think you do have access to this technology. If you have the
$40K it costs you should be able to purchase the system and have it
installed in your house. You can get the Blackbird outfitted with a
laptop and wireless technology and beam the info you collect as you ride
around your favorite town.

Heck, I've got a AMD quad-core with 8G of memory, 2.5TB of disk and 15/15
FIOS package - we could have the database sitting here in Area 51 and
outfit the bikes the guys in ride and collect data every where around the
state. I guess BJay would be the only exception since we won't be able
to fit a DWeebTV setup on his bike. ;-) Corry BJay - I couldn't resist
- Brian made me do it.

Bill in the "Area51 data center"

 

Can you just *image* the ruckus it would cause if I just went into the
parking lot where they park armed with nothing more than a pen and
paper and started taking down license numbers? I would figure about 3
minutes before Mesquite's finest would be out there telling me how
it's against the law...and making up laws in the process.

How much leeway do you figure I'd be granted by saying "it's out in
the public's viewing anyway...and for safety, we need to know who owns
these cars and make sure they have business to be at these locations".

No police officer/official is above or exempt from any of the laws
which an ordinary citizen is bound to.

 

Don't get me wrong - I agree with you. 110% even.

One thought I had was since DPS has been selling their database of
everyone in the state to folks like PublicData and such we could just
wait for it to be available up there (not likely, however).

Heck - where's Kent Polk when you need him??? Remember the black
helicopters? ;-}

 

I do. The "Doppleganger" was more on target than anyone could remotely
understand at the time. I've missed him more than once over the ensueing
years.

 

I had a thought....what about a database for the police officials and
judges? I believe we as citizens needs to know who's living in our
neighborhoods and what they're doing....you know, for the "children's
safety"?

I wonder how long it would take before the redneck cops would start
crying about how illegal it is to have their information displayed or
sold?

 

I'm about to seriously check into starting a database as described
listing the addresses, phone numbers and license plate numbers for the
police officers and judges....

 

Yes, it is. And it isn't going to get any better, probably much
worse.

Governments have been testing facial recognition technology for some
time.
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/14875res20030902.html
There are lots of links to this subject and it's been used in Great
Britain and certain areas of the US, for some time now. It's
certainly not foolproof but just like regular security cameras, unless
we all raise a big stink, we better get used to big brother spying on
us, in one fashion or another.

Speaking of security cameras, my last place of employment decided to
install security cameras. At first I thought that was a great idea,
since the place had been broken into, several times. Well, the
cameras _weren't installed_ until after an employee had been caught
stealing from the cash register and she was fired. When the cameras
were installed, one was placed directly in line of the cash register.
We never left money in the register over night. That camera was meant
to spy on whoever was using the register during operating hours.
If the boss and I could catch a thief on our own, why did we need a
camera pointed at our good, hard working employees?
Security cameras can be a good thing but their use is easily abused.
Spying is spying.

Sunny

 

Is 1984 still required reading, or is it now on the list of banned books?

 

And that isn't occurring now?

Not yet. George (Eric Arthur Blair) Orwell's "1984", is still
available at Amazon.com but you better get your copy now.

Sunny

 

I've read it a few times, and I'ld be leery of ordering it on Amazon,
and possibly be accused of a thoughtcrime against Oceania.

I don't think I've read Animal Farm though.

Maybe I can get a package deal at Border's.

I'll let you guys know if I see BJay reading that motorcycle book in one
of their comfy chairs.

 

Order a soft bound copy of both and have them delivered in brown paper
wrappings. That way, the post office will think you've ordered copies
of Kama Sutra.

Or maybe you could find and download them to your computer.

Good luck.

I await your report with bated breath.

Sunny