The use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) in America is growing at a mercurial rate. ALPRs are capable of scanning billions of license plates every year, complete with timestamps and geolocations. In the right hands, they’re powerful tools that can provide valuable information to law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, the tremendous amount of data collected by ALPRs can also be misused by law enforcement and lead to you being unfairly targeted by the police.
What’s more frightening is that businesses and private citizens can use this technology to acquire very specific data about car drivers. Additionally, whether the data is acquired by the government, businesses, or individual citizens, it’s not always secured.
Lerner and Rowe Law Group wants to help you understand the various legal and privacy issues introduced by automated license plate readers. Below is some information on what ALPRs can do, how the information they collect can be used, and why you should be concerned about ALPR data abuse.
What is an Automated License Plate Reader?
An automated license plate reader is an Internet-connected camera that scans cars and collects information. The technology was first deployed in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. Modern ALPRs aren’t too different from their forerunners, but their capabilities are exponentially greater thanks to advancements in camera technology, computer processing power, optical character recognition (OCR) software, and high-speed Internet. Today’s ALPR systems usually include:
- An Internet-connected camera
- OCR software to accurately scan license plates
- Database software to collect and sort information
ALPR cameras are commonly found on streetlights, street poles, highway overpasses, and mobile surveillance trailers. Many police squad cars are outfitted with mobile ALPR cameras. Some businesses, such as shopping malls, use these systems to monitor customers and share data with local police.
With current technology, ALPRs are capable of scanning millions of license plates each day. Since the scans contain time and geolocation information (a process known as “geo-tagging”), users are able to paint an accurate picture of a car’s travel patterns.
How Law Enforcement Use ALPRs
The police and other law enforcement officials use the data generated by automated license plate readers to track down a variety of criminals. The technology helps the police locate car thieves, fraudsters, and violent criminals; it gives them several accurate data points in a matter of seconds. Being able to track cars, identify their travel patterns, and triangulate locations quickly can be immensely helpful to law enforcement agents. ALPRs allow the police to establish behavioral patterns and accurately predict future behavior.
ALPRs can also be used to identify people that have forgotten to renew their car registration or insurance. Law enforcement has access to databases provided by the Department of Motor Vehicles and insurance companies that help them find people with out-of-date registrations or insurance. You can be asked by the police to pull over if your registration tags are out of date, but expired car insurance can’t be used as the primary reason.
Beware of Hot Lists
License plate numbers scanned by automated license plate readers get put on “hot list” databases for numerous reasons. Legitimate ones include the owner being guilty of violent crimes or having a history of vehicular crimes. Plate numbers also get placed on hot lists for fairly innocuous reasons, such as having outdated registration or expired insurance. Unfortunately, these lists are often generated and managed by private companies that service ALPRs and not by law enforcement officials.
Being placed on a hot list means that you have a higher chance of being monitored by law enforcement. For serial criminals, this is completely understandable. For someone that didn’t renew their car registration because of forgetfulness or financial hardship, this doesn’t make sense. Fair or unfair, being placed on a hot list means a higher chance of an automated license plate reader leading to an unwanted encounter with the police. Making sure to renew your car registration and insurance in a timely fashion is vital!
ALPR Abuse and Misuse
There have, unfortunately, been rare cases of automated license plate readers and the data they generated being abused and misused by law enforcement. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported some of these instances:
- A Washington D.C. police officer scanned plates of cars outside of a gay club and used the information to extort money from the car owners.
- An ALPR scan at a gardening store triggered an investigation that ultimately resulted in a SWAT team searching a family’s house for an illegal marijuana-growing operation; the family bought hydroponic equipment to grow tomatoes for a school project.
- San Francisco police stopped and aimed their guns at a Lexus driver because an ALPR misread her license plate by one digit; manual confirmation by the police would have revealed that the stolen car was a gray GMC truck and not the burgundy Lexus they stopped.
Situations like these are exceptions to the rule. You should feel confident that ALPRs are being used appropriately. However, Lerner and Rowe Law Group still suggests doing everything you can to keep off of ALPR-generated hot lists. If you feel that you’ve been wrongfully charged of a crime due to ALRP abuse or misuse then contact our criminal defense attorneys immediately.
Security Issues with ALPRs
What’s more troubling than uncommon instances of automated license plate readers being misused is the chance of a data breach. Law enforcement agencies and the private companies that sell ALPRs have access to billions of accurate and sensitive data points. That data is often shared by hundreds of parties. Let’s say, for example, that ALPR data in Phoenix is shared with 199 other law enforcement units; that’s 200 points of entry for hackers to attack. Additionally, the thousands of cameras used in ALPR setups are thousands of opportunities for hackers to attain information that should be private.
In May, The Register reported a hack of Perceptics, the company that provides and services ALPRs for US Customs & Border Protection (CBP). License plate information and images of drivers were stolen from Perceptics. The CBP claims that fewer than 100,000 records from a single entry point over the course of 45 days was stolen.
While automated license plate readers are almost always used by law enforcement for the good of everyone, the same can’t be said for private businesses and citizens. It’s very easy for someone to set up an ALPR; all you need is a camera, a computer, and software like OpenALPR. Private citizens and business can easily set up ALPR networks and the data could be used for nefarious purposes or stored unsecurely.
The Future of Automated License Plate Readers
Right now, it’s the Wild West for automated license plate readers. Only 16 states have specific laws when it comes to this technology. Hopefully more legislation that requires stringent standards for securing data passes soon to help protect you from ALPR abuse.
While everyone waits for the new laws to develop, Lerner and Law Law Group strenuously urges you to keep your car registration and insurance current. Remember, having expired tags or insurance papers could put you on an ALPR hot list and give an officer probable cause to search your vehicle. That’s an inconvenience you do not want.
If you need a criminal defense lawyer in Arizona, contact Lerner and Rowe Law Group today. Our attorneys know how to maximally defend you against the prosecution. Call us anytime at 602-667-7777. You can also reach us online through our contact form or through our LiveChat feature. We offer affordable payment plans, so you don’t have to worry about incurring costs as we fight for you.