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The Pros And Cons Of License Plate Recognition

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License plate recognition technology was born in the United Kingdom in 1976. In the early stages of scanning license plates, they weren’t very practical and were hardly used. As time went on, their evolution opened doors that only technology can. The most common uses are for toll roads and for police to check drivers for auto insurance. This generation of license plate readers is unique in that we are encountering an automatic surveillance potential. As with all rapid advancement in technology, we as a society are confronted with the moral dilemma of how far we are permitted to take things. The sword is often double edged in cases of mass surveillance and can get politically heated as well as divisive. In this particular case of Automatic …show more content…

By September of 2007, 48% of the largest law enforcement agencies were implementing the use of automatic license plate reading technology. A 2012 study reported that stolen vehicles account 88% of the used data. Wanted persons had a 60% alert rate and AMBER alerts had and alert rate of 45%. With overwhelmingly positive law enforcement statistics, it’s hard to see the downside. Lives are being saved and criminals are being caught using a technology that saves tax payer’s money.
Following democratic debates and speeches in 2009, it became known the ALPR’s were recording and storing the data of those leaving the events. That action caused a debate that sprung up in reference to the ALPR’s that not only brought public awareness, but also made it seem like technology had evolved while the public wasn’t looking. They felt watched.
It was reported the police department was obtaining license plate numbers of those exiting campaign events held by Barak Obama and Sarah Palin in Leesburg, Virginia. This was also the case for Obama’s inauguration in January of 2009. The release of these reports cause quite a stir and was brought before the Virginia Attorney General in February of

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