• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Automatic License Plate Recognition Do we want it?

Banjoboy

Banjoboy

Get over yerself!!!
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Location
Northbay
Moto(s)
'07 FJR speedshifter ('07 FJR, :rip ) '07 FZ6 (dirt bike)
Name
ANorris
Will the cops actually be able to find a stolen moto now?

Frum the NMA...

The title refers to cameras on the road, but not the usual red-light or speed cameras that we invariably write about. This newsletter is about ALPR.

What the heck is ALPR, and why should you be aware of it? Automatic License Plate Recognition applications are proliferating and are mobile. Many electronic plate-reading systems are mounted within cruising vehicles, and are operated by law enforcement agencies or even private, for-profit companies. ALPR systems capture and process the license plate information of any and all cars, motorcycles and trucks that cross the path of the host vehicle.

High-speed digital cameras are mounted around the periphery of the ALPR-equipped vehicle so that photographic evidence of passing vehicles, even at freeway speeds, can be gathered. License plate numbers are converted by optical recognition software to text, which can then be checked against a variety of databases, depending upon the intent of the data-capturer.

The law enforcement application is pretty straightforward. Plate numbers are compared to lists of stolen vehicles or owners with expired registrations, outstanding fines, or open arrest warrants. The mobile ALPR unit is equipped with a laptop computer, so a match can be found almost instantaneously and the location of the flagged vehicle pinpointed in real time.

Private applications of ALPR include automobile repossessions by lenders. A tow truck can be called in immediately upon locating a flagged license plate, allowing the repo man to keep motoring along on his quest to capture more license plate images and delinquent borrowers.

Much like any program that gathers massive amounts of data, the culling of the innocent from the guilty is not a perfect process; too many of the former can be swept into the process. Database information may be incorrect, license plates can be switched, vehicle registrations may not have been transferred properly to new owners --- any number of things can go wrong, causing an innocent party to have to endure the hassle of a towed vehicle, or much worse if a false arrest is involved.

For more information about how ALPR works, you can view the video at the bottom of this post which shows a plate-recognition program in action by Central Florida law enforcement. The constant clicking of the cameras capturing license plate data throughout the video will give you some idea of the scope of such a program.
Click to expand...

Full story with video
 
All it means is an increase in scumbag thieves stealing license plates from parked cars, trucks and bikes that have valid registration stickers.

The thieves will steal a motorcycle and then also steal a plate from another bike that they don't take. They might even swap the plates out to make it less noticeable. How often do you read the plate number on your bike and verify it's actually yours? You could end up being pulled over for having the plate from a stolen bike on your bike.
 
Remember, too, this technology can AND WILL be used to track your movements anywhere, all the time. Much like Fastrack, which was NEVER going to be used for anything other than bridge tolls (now used to track traffic all over the Bay Area), technology like this SEEMS good, but will quickly become abused by various government levels- for your own good.
Some might argue that they're doing nothing wrong, so why the worry, but NOWHERE did the American people ever give the government permission to survail us 24 hours a day- except after the fact by being apathetic.
 
Welcome to 2005 Banjo Boy. Agencies across the US have been using this technology for a long time.
 
jbt56 said:
but NOWHERE did the American people ever give the government permission to survail us 24 hours a day- except after the fact by being apathetic.
Click to expand...

But the sheeple actually do give the government permission to do what they do by not voting and remaining uninformed. If you think this country will simply run on cruise control, you're an idiot. Staying home on election day means not stopping the elections of corrupt asshole politicians who would gradually take our liberties from us. Participation in the political process is essential for this country to thrive. Instead, ignorance and apathy reign supreme with totally for shit voter turnout numbers that are far beyond embarrassing. Is it any wonder why spineless politicians then say "This warrantless wiretapping, security state, etc. is really good for you and will make us all more secure" when that's not the case?

Voter turnout in California was a mind boggling 28% in June of 2008. Three months ago, it was 31%. Fucking pathetic.

Think about that the next time you tell yourself your vote doesn't matter. This country belongs to the people, not the government. Neglect your bike and you end up with a broken ride on the side of the road. Neglect your duty as a citizen and this country is fucked.

The complacency, ignorance and apathy in this country is appalling.
 
No more than before LPR started being used by most agencies.
 
jbt56 said:
Remember, too, this technology can AND WILL be used to track your movements anywhere, all the time. Much like Fastrack, which was NEVER going to be used for anything other than bridge tolls (now used to track traffic all over the Bay Area), technology like this SEEMS good, but will quickly become abused by various government levels- for your own good.
Some might argue that they're doing nothing wrong, so why the worry, but NOWHERE did the American people ever give the government permission to survail us 24 hours a day- except after the fact by being apathetic.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Just another revenue generating scheme by state. Most likely group targeted are low income and middle income. Sure the worst case scenarios are always portrayed like stolen vehicles which was used as example (fear based) .Won't show when your vehicle is unlawfully towed because of bad/not updated database and you have to spend money/time and put up with bullshit to get your vehicle back.A little inconvenience by the public is worth the revenue . Think of all the revenue that can be had or have alredy been collected by this technology.It will not go away it will only get more intrusive. The show "parking wars" is based on this process. Vehicles are ticketed and sometimes booted.In which the owner will have to pay towing fee, storage etc: etc:

This type of activity will continue to increase due to the money it generates and because "AMERICANS HAVE WILLINGLY GIVEN UP THEIR FREEDOM through THE LACK OF ACTION!"
 
rrrdbw said:
Just another revenue generating scheme by state. Most likely group targeted are low income and middle income. Sure the worst case scenarios are always portrayed like stolen vehicles which was used as example (fear based) .Won't show when your vehicle is unlawfully towed because of bad/not updated database and you have to spend money/time and put up with bullshit to get your vehicle back.A little inconvenience by the public is worth the revenue . Think of all the revenue that can be had or have alredy been collected by this technology.It will not go away it will only get more intrusive. The show "parking wars" is based on this process. Vehicles are ticketed and sometimes booted.In which the owner will have to pay towing fee, storage etc: etc:

This type of activity will continue to increase due to the money it generates and because "AMERICANS HAVE WILLINGLY GIVEN UP THEIR FREEDOM through THE LACK OF ACTION!"
Click to expand...
But it's not a bad gig if you're the vendor looking to score all those government contracts. Why do you hate capitalism?
 
They are also going to be able to measure your speed.:nchantr

No more spirited riding.:(
 
I feel like this will net more folks for things like tags expired for a day, broken tail-lights, and whatnot than stolen vehicles.

But I suppose they need to justify sticking more cameras on everything to the people.
 
ALANRIDER7 said:
So how effective is it in actually finding stolen vehicles?
Click to expand...

It depends on the LPR system. Like most things... the more you pay, the better system you get. A $30,000 LPR system works much better than a $5,000 system.

Also, they are not used to scan for expired registration. A 4000(a)(1) VC fix-it ticket is easy enough to find without the assistance of a $30,000 computer... The LPR systems scan for stolen cars, stolen license plates, wanted cars, etc...
 
They'll be placining them all along the freeway measuring your speed from point a to point b. Most barfers will have 5 points on their driving records in one day.:nchantr
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top