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ACLU WORRIED ‘WE MAY BE BEING RECORDED’
A piece of nifty new technology is helping local law enforcement catch criminals on South Carolina roadways.
The Richland County Sheriff’s Department became the first in the state to use the Mobile Plate Hunter 900 — a two-camera system mounted on the back of a police cruiser that scans license tags and automatically matches them to a criminal database.
If the match comes back positive for a stolen vehicle, unpaid vehicle property taxes, or an unregistered sex offender, the officer is instantly alerted.
“My eyes are free to watch the road, scan from side to side and continue to look for any type of crime that I may be looking for at that time, while at the same time this system is reading tags,“ Richland County Sgt. Flynn Tanner told WSPA.
The system has so far found $31,000 worth of unpaid vehicle taxes, far outweighing the system’s $22,000 price tag.
The American Civil Liberties Union, though, is naturally opposed to anything that helps cops crack down on crime.
“The problem is the lack of standards, guidelines and controls – our technology has gotten ahead of our law,“ Victoria Middleton, executive director of the South Carolina office of the American Civil Liberties Union said. “We face the real possibility that our movements in an automobile will be tracked and recorded.”
Had Middleton actually taken time to watch the camera work, however, she would have quickly realized that it doesn’t actually record anything unless an alarm is triggered.
Seems like a good idea for a change.
Seems like a good idea for a change.* Police State Supporter
What are you going to do when the cops says your papers are not in order? It appears that you never heard of the Nazi’s……..
good article Adam
Yeah, sounds like a great idea until you’re the one who gets pulled over because of a computer error.
“The American Civil Liberties Union, though, is naturally opposed to anything that helps cops crack down on crime.”
what third grader wrote that sentence? please tell me that it isn’t the work of a professional journalist.
and fyi – “time” is spelled with an “i”. please go back to school.
Our government has yet to be able to protect us from themselves. Our civil libertys that our forefathers fought for are being trampled on every single day in this country. When is it that we are going to learn that our rights as Americans come first? Like the constitution says, by the people for the people. When will we learn to fight back for our rights? This Camera crap is plain and simply unconstitutional….