Automatic License Plate Reader Essay

The Department of Justice is planning to launch a new pilot program so body camera’s can be more widely used across the country. Federal officials plan to grant almost $20 million in funding across the country to law enforcement agencies. These agencies will have to have their own policies in place before being able to buy cameras (Berman). These cameras are small pager, sized cameras that clip onto an officers uniform or can be worn as a head set.

Technology today is a substantial part of policing. From the two way radios of the reforming era, and the use of video feeds in the patrol cars. The video recorded in today’s highly

The cameras are very small portable devices, it’s the size and length of a cigarette stick. The camera is attached to the police officers uniform and sits in a pocket. Usually police officers are required to wear this body camera while they are on duty. The cameras record everything that happens between officers and civilians. The Rialto Police Department was the first to actually use and wear the body cameras in 2012. They did a yearlong study to see the impact of police relations by wearing body cameras. One officer wasn’t feeling too good about this idea because he thought the cameras would be to punish them instead of helping them out. “During the first year after the cameras were introduced, the use of force by police officers reportedly declined 60% and complaints from citizens against law enforcement officers decreased 88%.” This was a yearlong study in which 54 officers had to

Today, law enforcement agencies, or more specifically police officers, are under constant scrutiny from their peers as well as outside sources. Many of these problems arise from how the police treat and deal with these citizens. There is however a solution to these problems, which can not only improve officer safety, but can also protect anyone else that the officer encounters. The solution to this problem is officer mounted camera systems, or better known as body cameras. These body cameras capture almost everything an officer see’s as well as hears. This allows for protection against a police officer as well as protection for a citizen who was scrutinized for something he or she might have done or not. Body cameras are ever increasing in policing and have many benefit’s as well as draw backs.

Moving along, one of the biggest issues and trends facing law enforcement today and in the future is the use of technology. Today, police organizations have access to a wide range of technological tools, and they are continually advancing and improving. Some of these include records management systems, computer-aided dispatch, GPS technology, license plate readers, biometrics (facial recognition software, for example), crime mapping via geographical information systems, and less-than-lethal weapons (Tasers, beanbag rounds, tear gas,

The dispute of police body cameras truly hit the media hard this week. Blasting from the headlines all citizens were aware that Michael Brown was lethally shot in Ferguson, Missouri. This prompted officers to become fortified with body cameras. This technologically progressive world that we live in today has shaped a world of tweeting, posting and uploading. It’s about time that police departments take advantage of the tools accessible to them, especially with the advancement of equipment. The move forward in technology will help to alleviate speculation on any misconduct perpetrated. There now will be hard honest evidence of any crime committed against a police officer.

The issue of police body cameras really hit the media hard this week. Blasting from the headlines all citizens were aware that Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri. This prompted officers to become equipped with body cameras. This technologically advanced world that we live in today has created a world of tweeting, posting and uploading. It’s about time that police departments take advantage of the tools accessible to them especially with the advancement of equipment. The move forward in technology will help to alleviate speculation on any crime perpetrated. There now will be hard factual evidence on any crime committed against a police officer.

Marfin stated the different issues presented for the department, such as the individual privacy and cost as she discussed UTPD’s process of implementing this technology. She emphasized this by stating “UTPD began testing different versions of body cameras two years ago, but the implementation of the technology took many years to complete” (par.9). Although the time and cost of the body-cameras brought issues to the department the author emphasizes that UTPD’s main goal is to build trust between the community and the police officers to ensure the community’s safety. Therefore, they made sure to invest in their safety by enforcing body cameras on the officers as explained in the article, ““This is something we believe is important to the UT community and to UTPD,” UTPD Chief David Carter said. “This is something to ensure that people have confidence and trust when it comes to our department.”” (par. 3). Throughout the article the cost of the cameras is highlighted informing how the technology works and what exactly it does to preserve the safety in the community. She emphasizes this statement by saying

In the high-tech age we live in, and where the use of smart phones can capture and record live actions and moments, many of these moments are now being captured by on-duty police officers who are using body mounted cameras to record incidents as they occur. The cameras, that these officers are utilizing, are small devices that are no more than two inches long and can be easily installed onto the officer’s glasses. The recording device is then attached to the officer’s uniform and is placed in an obscured location. The use of these body cameras are still under scrutiny but are quickly becoming standard uniform equipment in law enforcement departments throughout the United States.

Jamar Newsome Abstract Police departments nationwide have began to consider body cameras. Implementing body cameras department wide face many issues due to funding restrictions. Rialto Police Department faced the s

Cameras are already attached to the dash of the police officers vehicles but they only capture what is in front of them. The cameras don’t film the whole picture

One large reason these cameras should not be used is due to the costs. According to Jeff Roorada, who is the business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association in Missouri, outfitting the 100 largest police departments in the US would cost over 1 billion dollars.

The system has been criticized as a breach into privacy and the first amendment as well as taking surveillance a notch higher than permissible. Law enforcers on the other hand have argued that the license plate reader is not discriminative and does not choose which license plate to read and raise alarm; it is not discretionary, it reads all the plates. (Beyerlein 2009)

We all know that safety is one of our main concerns in our everyday life. Wwe make sure that our personal information is safe from people who can use it for their own personal mischief, but we don’t always think about it in our everyday routine. This can be seen in Automatic License Plate Reader where the technology is very useful for the local police department because they can track where we go and to see if we have ever broke the law. Although this is great for the police department, it can be very dangerous for the innocent civilians. Since the department holds a ton of personal information, anyone can infiltrate the system that can benefit people who are up to no good. While I was watching the video, I was really interested when Mike Katz-Lacabe

In reality, WAPS may be cross-indexed with traffic cameras, red light cameras, automatic license plate readers, retail purchasing records, phone meta-data and vehicle GPS during forensic discovery. Targeted tracking is a myth. WAPS creates an optical geo-location data record of the perpetual warrantless drag-net tracking of US civilians. Creating an optical geo-location database of civilian movement and archiving that data for forensic discovery and exploitation hardly limits police interest to “a couple” of vehicles or people. Remember that motion-tracking, metadata and facial recognition software may be applied to electro-optical data at anytime in the future, creating exponentially more powerful methods of information extraction and exploitation. Mission creep will lead to WAPS re-purposing. In fact, police have already implied this tech could be used for minor crimes including speeding, illegal parking and illegal dumping – far cries from their original purposes of target acquisition, asset protection and anti-IED emplacement. With the ever-expanding capabilities of WAPS systems, the exploitable surveillance coverage area and persistence will exponentially increase as will its chilling effect on