Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Technology: MYTHS VS. FACTS

MYTHS VS. FACTS

Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Technology

(Why SB 893 is Bad Policy)

 

MYTH: Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and private companies have no legitimate use of ALPR data.

Ø  FACT:  ALPR is used routinely by LEAs and the private sector to rescue abducted children, catch murderers, robbers, and drug dealers, find missing elderly adults, recover stolen vehicles, repossess cars whose drivers have broken contracts with lending institutions, and investigate insurance fraud. ALPR technology provides for increased police efficiency, higher productivity, and creates a greater deterrent to those committing crimes.

 

MYTH: Collecting license plate data is an intrusion of your privacy and ALPR databases contain personally identifiable information about vehicle owners.

Ø  FACT: There is no law that provides an expectation of privacy in a license plate. To the contrary, license plates are legally required to be mounted and publicly visible on vehicles at all times. ALPR technology takes a picture of a license plate and ONLY includes, the license plat number, date, time, and location information. It does not contain any personally identifiable information at all. ALPR databases are nothing but a collection of these pictures and standard computer industry best security practices are used to protect them.  

 

MYTH: Law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and private companies have no legitimate use of ALPR data.

Ø  FACT:  ALPR is used routinely by LEAs and the private sector to rescue abducted children, catch murderers, robbers, and drug dealers, find missing elderly adults, recover stolen vehicles, repossess cars whose drivers have broken contracts with lending institutions, and investigate insurance fraud. ALPR technology provides for increased police efficiency, higher productivity, and creates a greater deterrent to those committing crimes.

 

MYTH: Proposed laws, such as SB 893, that limit access to ALPR data, provide reasonable guidelines on the use of this technology, and will protect your personal privacy.

Ø  FACT: Limiting access to ALPR data DOES NOT protect personal privacy.  A license plate only contains numbers and letters – not personally identifiable information. The license plate reader does not, and cannot, identify the owner or driver of the vehicle. SB 893 would impede law enforcement’s ability to use this technology to solve crimes and to protect California communities.

 

MYTH: LPR technology is not that important to LEAs and they could solve crimes and get along just fine without the use of ALPR data.

Ø  FACT: ALPR technology is one of the most powerful crime-fighting tools available to law enforcement. It’s truly a force multiplier for both street officers and investigators. Most crimes have a vehicle nexus and LPR is the best tool to quickly solve these offenses and cut the crime rate in California.

 

MYTH: LEAs misuse the ALPR data creating concerns like the National Security Agency monitoring email and phone calls of private citizens.

Ø  FACT: Misuse of ALPR data is almost unknown. However, there are hundreds of great examples of the technology solving very serious crimes in California that might not have been resolved otherwise. ALPR critics, like chicken little, run around telling their version of “the sky is falling.” ALPR works and law enforcement should not shy away from this powerful tool.

MYTH: ALPR is an out-of-control, unregulated governmental intrusion into the private lives of ordinary citizens.

Ø  FACT: ALPR systems don’t really work that way. They do not track “ordinary citizens.” An individual vehicle will only come to the attention of law enforcement in one or both of two situations: 1) If the vehicle is on a “hot list” (e.g. stolen or felony stop) at the time the license plate is initially read, or 2) when a query is made as a result of a criminal investigation and a vehicle or vehicles are identified as meriting follow-up. Despite wild accusations by groups such as the ACLU, ALPR records are not personally identifying information; ALPR cameras capture images of a vehicle and its plate, not the person who is operating it.

MYTH: ALPR is used like a GPS system that tracks every move a vehicle makes.

Ø  FACT: ALPR records are intermittent captures of encounters with vehicles and don’t come close to the full-time tracking of GPS devices. The vehicle’s registered owner is unknown to law enforcement without a separate query of a secure database that leaves an audit trail.

MYTH: ALPR data can easily be abused by LEAs to produce politically embarrassing information that can be used to hurt or discredit ordinary law-abiding citizens and pry into their lives; ALPR historical databases are ripe for abuse like racial profiling and stalking.

Ø  FACT: ALPR critics have rarely ever produced a case of an ALPR database being used for nefarious purposes; if it does happen, those who misuse databases can be held accountable, fired and prosecuted for any crime that might have been committed. The reality: other databases routinely used by LEAs have much more intrusive and private information than the typical ALPR system. For instance, a simple driver’s license check tells what a person weighs, their natural hair color, when they were born, where they live and what their driving infractions have been.

  

Ø SB 893 would limit California law enforcement agencies ability to use ALPR data thus removing a tool from their tool box and making it harder to keep our communities safe.