Anyone active on social media has probably seen the video of the guy dragging away a Flock Camera, a contemporary symbol of people upset with the news that some people with access to Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) are abusing the system, using it to stalk people.
There’s a bipartisan U.S. Senate push led by Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and Alabama Republican Katie Britt to demand action by the Department of Justice. Strong legislation backed by both parties is likely what’s needed to stop the critical misuse of ALPRs.
Before the pandemic, my students and I worked on research on ALPRs for legislation proposed by Georgia Republican John Pezold, a member of the state legislature. His concern was that these ALPRs could be used to spy on people, either by those with access to the system or those who could hack it. (In my fiction novel Branded originally written in 2020, I even have the bad guys use ALPRs to try and track the heroes in the story; the villains simply hack the system.)
My students and I found that those states which put limits on ALPRs on how long the data could be collected on people who don’t have an active criminal investigation going on, do not have significantly worse crime rates. Opponents of Pezold’s bill went after attempts to limit such data collection on ALPRs.
At least 20 law enforcement officers have been fired for system abuse, including using the technology to do things like spy on ex-girlfriends.
According to The Hill, Senators Britt and Warnock wrote this to Attorney General Todd Blanche “While law enforcement agencies around the country appropriately use ALPR for legitimate public safety purposes including the investigation of violent crime and the location and recovery of missing and abducted persons, misuse of these systems undermines the public’s confidence in the technology.” The Hill adds “The lawmakers said they request ‘information about the DOJ funding and oversight of such systems to prevent such misuse and ensure compliance with applicable federal statutes and regulations.’”
At a press conference, Senator Warnock noted that such actions by those abusing the system are creating trust issues for everyone in law enforcement. He noted the benefits of ALPRs, citing Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and the role these cameras have in helping find missing people and Alzheimer’s patients (and yes, law enforcement used these cameras to help search for one of my relatives who drove off in a confused state).
Warnock pointed out that not only is stalking a national crime, but Federal dollars and support have often been used to implement Flock Cameras. “We need some Federal guardrails.” In response to my question about Georgia ALPR legislation, Senator Warnock argued that this should not be a patchwork of laws concerning Flock cameras. “We need accountability, supervision, and audits of searches,” he contended. “We don’t have this in place, and no real tracking of abuses. He rejected arguments concerning the tradeoff between liberty and security, that one must choose between the two.
Several of my students joined me at the press conference. While happy that something was being done, this ideological mix of students were unified in insisting that there be more specifics, and wanted such legislation out there sooner, rather than later.
“We need to know what the specifics of the plans are,” they told me. And these can’t come soon enough, or we might find many more Americans dragging off or destroying any security camera.
John A. Tures is Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Political Science Program at LaGrange College, in LaGrange, Georgia. His first book, “Branded”, is available on Amazon. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu.