Know Your Tech: Automatic License Plate Readers

Though they are referred to as automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), these small, high-speed surveillance cameras capture more than just the license plate information. Identifying vehicle information, including but not limited to the make, model, and color, and whether vehicles have roof racks, dents, bumper stickers, and even the contents of truck beds, is collected from every passing vehicle, regardless of suspected criminality.

Over time, the massive amount of information that ALPRs collect can be alarmingly revealing. While a point-in-time snapshot might not seem concerning, as ALPR cameras blanket our streets and governmental entities store the collected data for weeks or months or in some states, years, the technology quickly morphs into a powerful tracking tool. This information can reveal sensitive information about who we are and what we do including what friends, doctors, political events, or religious institutions we visit. The information captured by the readers is being collected and sometimes pooled into regional sharing systems. As a result, enormous databases of innocent motorists’ location information are growing rapidly.

In Michigan, more than 125 communities use ALPRs.

• General loss of privacy
• False matches lead to dangerous mistakes
• Lack of transparency
• Criminalize abortion and enforce immigration

• Flock
• Axon
• Motorola/Vigilant Solutions

Across the state and across the country, people are becoming frustrated with unfettered surveillance technology, and this surveillance can create a chilling effect on communities. When people feel they are being watched, they behave differently, and studies have shown government surveillance dissuades people from exercising their right to free speech. The impact of a government acquiring surveillance technology is that residents of such jurisdictions feel less free, and therefore act less free.