Mono County Sheriff Ingrid Braun requested and the Board of Supervisors approved the implementation of an Automated License Plate Reader system at key locations as well as in Sheriff’s patrol cars. Funding will be through a Homeland Security Grant.
“The systems capture a contextual photo of the vehicle, an image of the license plate, the geographic coordinates of where the image was captured and the date and time of the recording,” according to the agenda packet materials. Braun explained ALPRs are widely used in urban areas but her department will be the first in the Eastern Sierra to use the system.
She stressed the fact ALPRs are just a “data capturing” mechanism valuable to recover
stolen vehicles or missing persons. The information captured is on a “need to know, not a right to know” basis requiring a law enforcement reason before it can be accessed. Access is through a password-protected system.
The available information does not include any personal information. The registered
owner of the vehicle is accessed through a separate, secure state database, “which is restricted, controlled and audited,” according to the agenda packet material.
For obvious reasons, Braun wouldn’t disclose the exact locations where the ALPRs
would be set up, simply that they would be in all the main corridors, highways 395, 120 and 6.
During the public comment period, a caller strongly objected, referring to overreach,
totalitarianism and violations of the 4 th (unreasonable search and seizure) and 5 th (due process) Amendments.
The strongest argument for use of ALPRs came when Braun told the Board if the system
had been in place in the Chalfant area the night 16-year-old Karlie Guse disappeared three and- a-half years ago, the Sheriff’s Department could have accessed valuable information.
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Luckily, I can’t find a single instance of someone in law enforcement abusing a system requiring a law enforcement reason before it can be accessed. Besides, if you aren’t breaking the law you really don’t need your constitutional rights.
If you don’t appreciate them should you even deserve them?
American soldiers die for those rights.
That was in fact sarcasm. They need a font for that.
If Groggy you were being sarcastic please forgive me.
I wonder if they have secured a permit through Caltrans to have these installed considering the use of ALPER cameras are currently in litigation and the state is not issuing permits for them at this time?
Why would any law abiding citizen object to this?
Big Data. I don’t necessarily object to this particular instance of data gathering, but the more data they gather, the more the people will be exploited in the long run.
It’s anti-american. If you support america, you support american believe system, which is that police do not get to operate with impunity. They are supposed to have just cause to before capturing data about you. The founding fathers went a long way to avoiding a police state in america.
What stops the camera from being stolen or vandalized
I generally back the blue, but the libertarian in me, is like this is a little over reach. Especially in our rural area. And please don’t throw that poor girl in your reasoning, that goes way below the belt…
Don’t worry. “Data collection only” and used solely to “recover missing people and stolen vehicles”. Plus it’s all stored securely in a place only the government can access!
What are the naysayers worried about? Hasn’t government earned our trust over the past two years of adroit and skillful management of our health and our prosperous economy?
Bogus!
GREAT news !!!….but not so much for the idiots and speeders through the towns…
You know what would help solve these kinds of missing persons cases even better than automatic license plate readers?
Automatic GPS locator beacons on every vehicle and also one injected into every person at birth! I mean, just think how useful that could be. We could have tracked where Karlie Guse was as well as any individuals near her whereabouts during her disappearance and solve the case!
Of course this kind of data would be on a need to know basis requiring a law enforcement reason before it can be accessed. Only trustworthy people in the government would have access to this secure database which would be restricted, controlled, and audited.
Keith
Sadly,what you say is true,even though you’re being sarcastic about it…
The way this Country has gone with crime in the past 40 years or so,maybe not so much where we live,but the big city living gangs,drugs,murders,kidnappings and crimes,maybe not a bad idea to keep that Government eye on everyone,for people’s own good and safety,as well as making it harder for criminals to get away with what they do.
The new generation,they need a babysitter-type eye on them,since it seems common sense and taking care of themselves can’t be relied on much anymore..
The way the country has gone with crime is a direct result of government policies. Crime has gone up at the same time government spending has increased. The more problems government can create the more it justifies its existence. Name one social issue/problem government has solved.
Shame on you for using Karlie Guse as a “case-in-point” in your bombastic rant.
Good lord, Kay, shame on you for having such a holier than thou mentality.
That’s the reason that was given for ALPRs by Ingrid Braun in the article. Shame on me or shame on Braun? Also, if you consider what I said a “bombastic rant”, you need a timeout in your safe space.
that was a failure on law enforcement and the community too
How about cutting the bloated funding of law enforcement? Then give the money saved to the local fire departments. We need EMT support, not more surveillance.
For all the people that are giving me the thumb down, when you or a loved one is in need of an EMT I hope one is ready for service. With all the life saving equipment and fully trained EMTs.
Were sorry your call will have to wait, the EMT support you would like to have is not funded.
Or maybe we could have a huge data base full of license plate photos.