Cops with new license plate reading technology

reply to post by W35M4N

---

Oh God, give it up with that same old lame reasoning. I wasn't committing any crime when I was detained for almost an hour.

Ummm, you were drunk in public and damaging other people property.......

I like how you justify your hatred for the police (as evidenced by your inability to say the word "police" without adding the word "pig" and trying to bypass the profanity rules we all agreed to when we signed up) by quoting a poem that doesn't apply to anything that is currently happening in this country.


[edit on 22-5-2008 by Tiloke]

reply to post by Tiloke

---

Umm, what the hell are you talking about?

Actually, I was driving to meet my brother at a New Year's party.

[edit on 5/22/0808 by jackinthebox]

reply to post by cutbothways

---

We've got the same system here in Vancouver, Canada, but it's used in marked cars as they go about doing their regular patrols. The computer beeps when it picks up a suspect plate of a stolen vehicle, an unlicenced car, a person who's on parole and isn't supposed to be in certain areas, etc. If used in that way, I haven't any objection, but I can see how it could be abused. Anyway, the RCMP are trying to get the system expanded to the entire province.
-Gord

My apologies. I though you were talking about the other time you were doing nothing wrong and the police bothered you and beat you for no reason.

reply to post by cutbothways

---

This is already active in the UK... the Motorway/highway patrol cars have had them for a while and the technology is now being implemented into motorway cameras and street CCTV.

I feel like i've had my eyes shut.

Paul

reply to post by cutbothways

---

Well I never all I can say is big deal fella. She was breaking the law. Thats why we have penalties for breaking the law. Thats why we need surveillance to catch persons who deliberately break the law and take chances with everyone else's life and finances(ie there is a cost involved that flows on and on from the effects of all our misdemeanors). Now if they had pulled her out of the car and started kicking her you might have a point. I say might because depending on the background of a person, their particular crime and curent behavioural pattern who knows what beneficial effect even that may have - after all smart arse lawyers and ridiculous laws at times conspire to set homicidal maniacs free so there may even be latent perceived justification by law enforcement officers. It is worth remembering that what they deal with on a daily basis cannot be handled without counselling after a period and is bound to inflict permament mental distress in some.
However I have digressed from the lady in the car who broke the law and I reckon that they should use the system with a list of registered firearm carriers as well as being known for previous armed unwarranted behaviour. Lets get right into it.

Nice, disarm anyone who wants to reply with that "disqualifying" statement.
Good luck winning arguments, though I assume your personal clan is in step with your thinking so no need, right?

Moving on.. This is the same as a cop doing it manually (which they do now) this just makes it faster. If you think for one second cops do not already do this then you are seriously ignorant.

There is nothing wrong with this at all.
This is not an invasion of privacy.

I am not a government spook, or a sheep, I am also not on the side of Law Enforcement in most cases, but in this case.. no rights are being violated, so it shouldn't be "disturbing".

Disturbing would be if they knocked your door down, demanded ID and then checked your history, but to scan a license plate??

I would be willing to bet my life savings that I know more than you do about the Patriot Act. I'd even bet half my life savings that you havent even read it, and you're just a parrot.

This has been in the UK for over 2 years.

The introduction of all this technology is destroying the police. In the UK, you see police scanning reg plates, using speed guns and Tax Disc cameras. Vans park up and the technolgy does the work processing cars' plates and tax discs, the police are now technicians and admin workers rather than enforcers of the law. This is now done by the Royal Mail who deliver your summons and fine notifications.

We even have police escorts for the cash carrying security vans as they make their rounds.

Waste of time and taxpayers money. Police should be police.

Providing law enforcement with the availability to scan vehicle license plates expeditiously for the purpose of VIEWING data is not the issue. The problem is that when they are scanning license plates they are recording the data (Date, Time, and the vehicles GPS location). In lieu of recording information for non crime related incidents such as alarms, ambulance calls, and motor vehicle accidents, police officers are bound to reasonable suspicion to stop and question an individual who they feel may be involved in a criminal incident. In order to affect an arrest an officer must have probable cause. If you are driving to work and your sole intent is to travel from your home to your place of employment without violating any of your states vehicle and traffic laws, what gives a law enforcement agency the legal right to scan your license plate and store the data?

Don't you people see how this is a possible tool among many for data mining purposes, or it could be "abused" that way (I would like to think that it is on purpose however), to keep tabs on us? I mean, there are already x-ray machines at airports that can see you in the nude, I mean how did NAZI policies enter into the American way of life?

I mean big brother is watching at all times and it will only get worse I believe. I mean CCTV cameras are in Great Britain and here in the US, and these were not here 20 years ago? How big will this SURVEILLANCE state become is anybodies guess, but I will tell you that terrorism has been the excuse for us to relinquish our privacy rights. I think people should not be so quick to bow down in the face of authority stripping our rights away, little by little, bit by bit...

It is sad that people on here think that more surveillance is a good thing, I will put everything on the fact that it is not and will hurt more than help us in the long run....

* SNIP* IS THAT RAT COP YOU'RE SPAKING ABOUT. HE WORKS FOR THE LEESBURG POLICE DEPT. LEESBURG, VA.

Mod-Edit: No posting of private names and adresses please.

[edit on 2-6-2008 by Skyfloating]

reply to post by Anonymous ATS

---

AMEN brother!! The scanning will be unseen and will track us and note where we are and when...total control. The goal is of course control, and we must resist control or be treated as the sheep we are. It always amazed me that a huge bull could be kept in a field by a flimsy fence...the bull could simply run thru it but he never tries and only sees the obstacle..never tests it, and remains trapped forever.

The sad fact is that we are cattle and the fence is going up fast. Individual resistance and teaching Rights is critical now. I found out that locally very few people have any awareness of their Rights or how to use them. Like Edward R. Murrow said" A nation of sheep beget a government of wolves'.

reply to post by fiftyfifty

---

I'm sure we all understand where you are coming from, however an undercover cop running license plates doesn't seem like an efficient way to nab the type of people you've described. How many known terrorists, hardened criminals, or people who are wanted for major crimes will actually be behind the wheel of a car registered in their own name in an area where these "screenings" occur? In my opinion, this is a form of knit picking, low man on the totem pole can't catch a break type of set up. Big time operation...a bunch of arrested unlicensed or non-ticket paying drivers off of the streets while the murderers, rapists, thieves, drug dealers etc ride right on by in the passenger seat of a legal car or even on the bus. By the way, the whole unmarked car/blending in thing...doesn't really work like some may think. An unmarked car patroling a parking lot row by row makes it even more obvious that something is going on then a regular patrol car would. Hello. As far as not having any worries if you're legal, I beg to differ. Getting pulled over can be quite an ordeal. Multiple cars arrive making it even more embarrassing, valuable time is lost while every passer by gawks as you wait for your credentials to be verified all for the cop to find out that you were telling the truth when you said this was your boyfriend's car and your license is valid.
Get where in going on this point?

I think this technology is a great tool for locating stolen cars, or doing quick lookups when pulling vehicles over, but that's about it. Once we start to use it as a Minority Report tool to constantly scan and take offenders off the roadways next we will add to the list of what will constitute a valid reason to make one an offender. Eventually they might disable your car or pull over your vehicle for not paying your power bill on time, or being late to work, not paying child support, etc. etc.


The sad side it is/will being used like a high tech cash register that's primary purpose will be to enforce the collection of fines that have nothing to do with safety or the good of society, but have more to do with greedy corrupt municipalities who use it as a tool to create more taxes out of nothing in order to raise their budgets and create more wealth and power for themselves in the guise of public safety.

Can't pay that traffic ticket on time cause your not a perfect driver and decided to feed you kids instead - Well guess what your going to jail on your next trip to work and the kids are going foster care where they'll cost the taxpayers more money for the corrupt care and then they will end up in prison because the state sponsored caregivers raped them for eight years, and they can't deal with society themselves. To get your car back you'll have to give up buying the kids new clothes or toys this Christmas. All because you're a big bad criminal for not paying your ticket or showing up for the Kangaroo traffic TAX court.

There is nothing good about a police state except for the police and their handlers.


[edit on 4-6-2008 by verylowfrequency]

I'm all for using new technology to create a better safer world, but we need watch how they are merged with old ideas or technology and can become out of control monsters.

The real Danger is we don't want overzealous LEO's using this technology in place of rational decision making and training that no robotic tool or computer program can replace.

For Example: Our military relies on such identification tools in order to discern enemy targets from friendly or civilian ones. On July 3 1988 U.S. Navy's guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes overzealous crew misidentified a commercial airliner Iran Air Flight 655
as an F14 shot it down and killed nearly 300 civilians (66 children). All because they crew got caught up in what the technology read along with their frame of mind which caused them to not fully understand the data which led to missiles being fired on a civilian aircraft.

I'm all for new technology for safety, but I think we need to be more careful how and who we label as criminals or enemies as we all need to live together and treating everyone like criminals does not make for a better happier world. Remember everyone of these people arrested or treated badly will get out and if we can't treat them respectfully than don't expect them to be respectful in life or on the highway when they come back.

[edit on 4-6-2008 by verylowfrequency]