LICENSE PLATE READERS: THE LATEST POLICE STATE SURVEILLANCE GADGET
The Dept. Homeland Security is granting hundreds of millions to local cops to install license plate readers all over the country. The American Civil Liberties Union is asking police agencies nationwide for details on how they store and what they do with data captured by automatic license plate readers. The ACLU has long kept an eye on the collection of this information because of concerns that law enforcement agencies keep the data indefinitely. If a law enforcement agency used it to draw a picture of where individuals and groups are at particular times to obtain information on them, that would be a serious privacy violation. A top concern, the ACLU says, is how long the location and movements of people are kept on file after cameras mounted on patrol cars or along roads on utility poles and bridges photograph license plates. ACLU affiliates in 38 states and the District of Columbia have joined in asking for the information. "The American people have a right to know whether our police departments are using these tools in a limited and responsible manner, or whether they are keeping records of our movements for months or years for no good reason," said Catherine Crump, staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.monarchy's.