Police using new camera cars

[macktastic brake grabber]

I don't know if anyone here have seen this yet.
The Littleton and Aurora police depts. have new technology that employs a squad car- suv's that are equipped with cameras that scan oncoming as well as stationary vehicles and the traffic in front of the squad car. The cameras take a picture of the license plate and then run it through a data base that is mounted in the vehicle and downloaded daily with info on colorado vehicles that have out of date registration, owners that are under suspension, operators that are uninsured, etc. etc. They can scan a car as it drives by or as it passes a parked car on the street or on private property, as you are at the gas pump, etc. Just about any scenario. If anything comes up as a "hit" an alarm goes off and the system shows a picture of the car and plate # on the laptop screen and the officer pulls the vehicle over.
My brother and I were getting gas at the Sinclair station on Santa Fe just south of 470 when a suv with a "Thule" rack on top pulled up to the pump behind us. It looked like any other soccer mom suv. The Thule rack had the front cut out and had cameras mounted inside, behind a plate of glass. The officer was in plain clothes and we thought it was odd that he sat there for a couple of moments and then drove off without buying gas. The staion attendant came out a couple of minutes later and told us that it was "Five-o" and what he was doing. Sure as hell as we were leaving, he had a car pulled over with the aid of a marked car. Since then I noticed an unmarked car in Aurora, a maroon ford cruiser, with small cameras mounted all over the car, pointing at all different angles. The other day I asked an Aurora officer if this was what was going on and he told me that it was true.
The Canadians have been using this tech. for a couple of years and now it is here.
All I can say is be sure and pay your tickets and keep your license, insurance current.
Btw, the gas station clerk told me that the one in Littleton spends every nite cruising the gas stations on Santa Fe, going from station to station scaning plates. If he gets a hit, he just pulls around the corner and waits for the person to leave and then pulls them over on public property.
Big Brother is lurking everywhere!
I don't know if any other City's are using this system yet, but you can bet they will all have one soon.
Mack

[chad23]

if it's what I think your talking about, I saw one in Ft Collins

[macktastic brake grabber]

A friend of mine that quit the Aurora police dept. sent me an email months ago with an atached video of an officer using the system in British Columbia. It stated that the system would be put to use in the U.S. within a year.
In the video he bust a car that was stolen and used in an armed robbery the previous day.
I will see if I can find the video and post a link. The first thought that came to mind was that I wished I had written the software. Someone is getting rich as hell.
mack

[schwagman]

Oh man that sucks

[rforsythe]

Wondered if they would do something like that here.

The technology has existed for a considerable amount of time in separate pieces, it just took some bright minds to put it together. I suspect it's only a matter of time before traffic cameras are used to discretely scan license plates behind the scenes as well, assuming it isn't done already (I believe it may be in the UK). Looking for some vehicle? Just tell the system to alert you when a stationary cam sees it go by. This also allows for interesting profiling of average citizens. Combine with facial recognition technology, and you have a pretty complete system to track where people go within an urban environment. It's about as close as you can get to implanting chips in peoples' heads.

There is very little data that isn't known and stored about you anymore...

[Igor]

Not to get off topic, but what about all the "Street View" stuff on Google Maps now? I haven't really researched that much, but here in Pueblo, you can look around just about any street you want using street view.

It has to be done using cars with cameras mounted all over them just driving down the street (although I have never noticed any).

You see people walking, in their cars, etc. They have to be using the facial recognition technology because you cannot make out faces. You also cannot make out license plates. Images are not blurred in any obvious manner, it seems like the camera just fails to record certain details.

Dont get me wrong, Google is cool, but it is a little frightening when you think about the sheer volume of information that is readily accessible.

[asp_125]

Just for grins I looked up my house on street view last year and there I was, getting on my bike in the driveway. Google will remove your picture if you email them. I read somewhere the average person is captured on cameras a dozen times a day. Think about all the cameras in offices, stores, banks, gas stations etc.

[daemon]

Just for grins I looked up my house on street view last year and there I was,

did that this morning.
mostly hidden is my house,but i can plainly see that my garage door was open.....who the hell is spying on me???

EDIT***swung in a little closer and the door was closed,but who parked tha POS chevy in my driveway???

[DavidofColorado]

It won't be long before robots are taking police jobs.

[Captain Obvious]

It won't be long before robots are taking police jobs.

Ahhh, welcome to 15 years ago, but they are already.

[Squisha]

One MIGHT say that it could help reduce racial profiling...or at least the appearance of it. If a cop sees a carload of homeys, and the system shows it's clean, he's got less reason to pull them over, whereas without such a system, a cop has to "decide" whether to pull them over in order to do the checks that the system apparently does automatically. That said, I don't have to be doing anything wrong to be uncomfortable with someone looking over my shoulder. Its bad enough just to be caught on camera with my finger up my nose. People tend to jump to conclusions!

[asp_125]

Double edged sword too. If my car or bike got jacked I want them to find it asap. Or for amber alerts. Still, makes me uneasy that I'm being watched. Better get my tin foil hat ready.

[Captain Obvious]

You have to wonder about fruit of a poisonous tree.

In most states (don't know about CO), the registered owner of a vehicle having a suspended license is not a primary offense. Meaning, just by a DB search, the officer doesn't know the driver and the owner are the same person prior to a traffic stop. So if a traffic stop is made based only on the owner being wanted, suspended DL, whatever and the driver is found to be a different person who just left a crime scene, will any evidence be admissible? Normally, if the reason for a traffic stop is not a valid, primary offense, any evidence found after an invalid stop has to be ignored.

Seems that unless CO has some form of waiver of rights when you get a license or register your vehicle, it could cause issues. I am sure they have thought about it, but sometimes the results have to be tested in court to undo practices that should never be in place to begin with.

[Captain Obvious]

One MIGHT say that it could help reduce racial profiling...or at least the appearance of it.

Doubt it. "Racial profiling" goes in all directions, some good, some bad. Old Caddie full of black dudes in Compton. Not noteworthy. Carload of black dudes driving through a golf course in Beverly Hills. White guy in a car at the golf course in Beverly Hills vs same guy/same car in Compton.

Based on the race of the occupants and the location, some situations seem more suspect that others.

Takes a person, not a robot's program, to make decisions in many circumstances. Experience and the fuzzy hairs on the back of your neck have no substitute.

[asp_125]

It won't be long before robots are taking police jobs.

[Captain Obvious]

Yeah, I thought of Robert Heinlein too.

[puckstr]

Facial recognition, Or sub-dermal Personal Data Tags is/are next

anyway I

[macktastic brake grabber]

I dont have any warrants or outstanding tickets or anything else. i try to stay as clean as possible because i have commercial business interest and licenses at stake. But I did take offense to this huy pulling up on private property#1 and scanning me and my homie as we were just shootin the breeze.
The attendant told me that the station manager has spoke with the officer and told him he was not allowed to do his scans on that lot due to it being private property. He said the officer has ignored anything said to him and just keeps scanning every night.
Mack

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Much as I hate big brother, this is no different from a cop doing it manually. It's simply faster. There is no more invasion of the illusion of privacy in public because the camera sees only what the cop can see. And, I've sen studies where the streetcorner cams are very effective in stopping crime.

[asp_125]

It would be funny if they scan me throwing the shocker at the camera.

[MetaLord 9]

I see your point Frank, but that goes along the lines of DUI checkpoints at every corner, security screens on the light rails, and background checks with metal detectors and drug tests at every concert. These are all things that they're trying to do anyway and a more efficient technology just makes them able to do it to everyone. Does it make it more tollerable? Not a bit.

I would suspect that the camera's only there to give an officer grounds to pull you over and investigate a little bit. I can't believe that (except in the cases of stolen vehicles & expired tags) that the owner could face any repercussions for the car being caught on camera. This is similar to red light cams sending you a fine but having it end up as a no-points ticket. They can prove the car, but they can't prove you were driving it

[Mother Goose]

Oh man that sucks

Exactly how does this suck? Unless you are one of those people that are uninsured, have a suspended license, or steal tags from other cars. I think it's great to try and get those people off the roads.

[Sortarican]

It won't be long before robots are taking police jobs.

Oh Yeah Baby

...I suspect it's only a matter of time before traffic cameras are used to discretely scan license plates ... (I believe it may be in the UK)....

Yup,
The Brits pioneered using street corner cameras back in the old IRA terrorist days. With the improvements in recognition software and processing speeds it's been expanded to issuing tickets for every kind of mundane offense.

Exactly how does this suck?....

Well for one they don't use them to send renegade indians back to the reservation.

[Snowman]

I say we get everyone the same Halloween mask and wear them whenever we leave the house.