In the 1958 crime thriller “A Touch of Evil,” Charlton Heston’s character says, “A policeman’s job is only easy in a police state.” » This is worth remembering whenever the government attempts to facilitate surveillance of the population by law enforcement. We all want to help police officers track down criminals, but that shouldn’t come at the expense of everyone’s civil liberties.
The latest crime-fighting trend is for cities to install license plate trackers in public places. The Orange City Council recently unanimously voted to spend $400,000 to install 43 license plate cameras and 13 video cameras throughout the city. Orange has joined a growing list of Southern California cities to adopt this simplified enforcement model.
Police emphasize the usefulness of cameras in solving crimes. But in its assessment of such systems nationwide, the ACLU found that “such cases represent only a tiny fraction of license plate scans, and too many police departments store millions of records on innocent drivers.” Authorities promise to use the data wisely, but they are governed by few rules.
Many Americans are concerned about tech companies sharing their information. This situation is arguably made worse as government agencies contract with private companies to monitor the movements of everyone, wherever they are. It’s open to abuse. California lawmakers passed a law (Senate Bill 34, passed in 2015) that addresses the privacy issues inherent in this technology.
Yet a 2020 report from the California Auditor noted that the agencies examined “did not do everything they could to respect the privacy of individuals by integrating the requirements and concepts of SB 34 into their operations.” It revealed that “most of the images are not related to their criminal investigations: 99.9% of the 320 million images from Los Angeles stores are of vehicles that were not on a hot list at the time the ‘image has been taken’.
Furthermore, courts have generally looked suspiciously at politicians who hound everyone in the hopes of catching the occasional crook. Orange officials may be fans of Big Brother, but visitors should be concerned if the city is making policing a little too easy.
California Daily Newspapers
