Police in New York are arming themselves with license-plate readers. The LPRs are infra-red cameras mounted on poles or patrol cars that instantly capture license-plate images of all vehicles they pass and feed them to a computer that compares them with millions of police records to identify suspect drivers and vehicles. Roughly 300 agencies are currently using them to identify drivers with suspended registrations and licenses. They also can be used to pinpoint GPS positions, time, and date, essentially allowing Big Brother to know where and when you are located a certain spot. It can also use to track the location of sex offenders to ensure they are not hear schools (aka “geo-fencing”).
Officers can driver through crowded parking lots and easily identify offending vehicles and motorists. Scary. LPRs cost about $17,500 each but appear to be well worth the price from a law enforcement perspective.
Pictured is a camera located near Ground Zero. It can read license plates and then transmit that information to a database to search for matches.
