Prior to April 2016, New Hampshire was the only state in the US that prohibited police departments from using automatic license plate readers on their cars. A bill proposed by a Republican Representative and signed by Governor Maggie Hassan eliminated that ban. A little over two years later, a town of 1700 residents has become the first one in New Hampshire to employ this newly allowed device that the state has granted police the authority to use.
On June 7th, The Union Leader reported that Lincoln would be the first New Hampshire town to take advantage of the state’s removal of the license plate reader (LPR) ban.
The above-referenced article mentions that the Lincoln Police Chief, Ted Smith commented on the new car-mounted cameras: “We’re very excited about this”. Should average (non-police) residents of New Hampshire be excited about this new police tool, though?
The new cameras (which taxpayers will presumably pay for) will perpetually scan every single license plate that they encounter. Every license plate is automatically against the database that would inform the officers with a popup on their screen if the license has any outstanding record on it. Each unit could scan 1500 license plates per minute. Theoretically, the Lincoln police could violate the privacy of every single resident in the town in just over a minute! Police unions and other tyrants would argue that “if you have nothing to hide, you should have no problem with this” and “it will only be used to catch those who kidnap children and murder people”. How could you oppose such a program?
This new style of ‘presumed-guilt’ policing is sickening and Orwellian, to be quite frank. I am sure that government lawyers could successfully defend this program in front of judges (who also work for the government, which technically makes them coworkers) by using the ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ defense. Passing judicial muster has lost its significance, though. While people do not expect absolute privacy when they are on public roads, I would argue that they do have a reasonable expectation to not have their license plates scanned and run against police databases, especially if they have not even been pulled over or suspected of a traffic violation.
If you read that last sentence and then you read the 4th amendment or any other sentence about privacy, warrants, or police, this new program may seem to approach (or surpass) the limit of what law enforcement should have the legal/moral authority to do. When a person is pulled over by a police officer, the technical term is that the driver is being ‘detained’ due to the officer having some level of ‘suspicion’ that a (traffic violation or) crime has been committed. Many people would agree that if an officer thinks that a person may have violated a traffic law, the officer could legally and morally pull someone over and run their license at the roadside. While I find that scenario repugnant, the LPR program is much more authoritarian. The camera causes every single driver to be investigated despite zero suspicion existing. Under this new program, simply owning a vehicle will cause your license to be scanned and run against a database.
While proponents of the program (government officials and law enforcement) would insist that the program would only be utilized to catch violent criminals, we have no reason to trust them. From my understanding of the program, each police officer could probably keep tabs on every single member of the town (who has a car) with relative ease. While police are claiming that they are only notified if a license matches a criminal's license from their database, we cannot be certain that each officer can't program the computer to alert them when a specific license is scanned (their ex-wife, for instance). Keep in mind that these cameras could scan 1500 license plates per minute. If a police officer wanted to keep tabs on any individual who owned a car, they might need to do nothing more than drive around town for a few minutes and wait for their computer to alert them. If a resident of the town happens to be an outspoken advocate for police accountability and privacy rights, the police department might be able to set an alert for that person's license plate, which could allow them to literally track the person's every move.
Even if the program could not be altered or customized at all, police officers could still keep tabs on anyone with an imperfect driving record, seemingly. Once a person is pulled over for touching their phone or rolling making a right turn on a red light without coming to a complete stop, they could find themselves in the LPR-tracking-system for the rest of their lives. I propose that we simply adopt the 'telescreen' program that George Orwell described. If society has determined that privacy should not hinder the tracking and prosecution of criminal activity, why not catch all of the criminals?
The legality and morality of the automatic license plate readers do not matter to police departments. Police departments will continue to do whatever they can get away with. If the law allows for them to do this, they will do it. If something is prohibited by law, police might still do it. Unless the government chooses to prosecute them and a government judge chooses to curtail their powers, police will have limitless tools to use against us. And this will not be the last tool they utilize in their quest to abolish the concepts of privacy and freedom.
We cannot rely on Representatives, Senators, the Governor, lawyers, judges, or police to protect our privacy. In fact, they are the very people who are destroying our privacy! What will we, the citizenry do to protect our privacy and the privacy of our children? Is it wise to continue to grant the government increasing amounts of power? Is it wise to continue to sacrifice our freedom and privacy for the promise of ‘safety’?
***Update***
The police chief of the town of Lincoln has been suspended by the town, seemingly for being untrustworthy with confidential information. should we still trust him with the LPR program that might allow him to track nearly every movement by every resident of his town who has a car?
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views held by The Liberty Block or any of its contributors or members.
Comments