By TAMI ABDOLLAHand ELLIOT SPAGAT

September 19, 2014 6:54 PM

License plate scanner
networks capture
movements
LOS ANGELES
(AP) A rapidly
expanding digital
network that uses
cameras mounted
to traffic signals
and police cruisers
captures the
movements of
millions of vehicles
across the U.S.,
regardless of
whether the drivers are being investigated by law enforcement.
The license plate scanning systems have multiplied across the
U.S. over the last decade, funded largely by Homeland Security
grants, and judges recently have upheld authorities' rights to keep
details from hundreds of millions of scans a secret from the public.
Such decisions come as a patchwork of local laws and regulations
govern the use of such technology and the distribution of the
information they collect, inflaming civil liberties advocates who see
this as the next battleground in the fight over high-tech surveillance.
"If I'm not being investigated for a crime, there shouldn't be a secret
police file on me" that details "where I go, where I shop, where I
visit," said Michael Robertson, a tech entrepreneur fighting in court
for access to his own files. "That's crazy, Nazi police-type stuff."
A San Diego judge has tentatively ruled that a local government
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agency can deny Robertson's request for scans on his own
vehicle under California's open records law because the
information pertains to police investigations. Superior Court Judge
Katherine Bacal heard additional arguments in the case Friday and
plans to issue a final decision soon. Robertson said he plans to
appeal if the tentative decision stands.
The San Diego case comes less than a month after another state
judge, using the same reasoning, denied a petition by the ACLU of
Southern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation for one
week of records on all vehicles collected by the Los Angeles Police
Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The
ACLU says that network adds 3 million scans each week to a
database shared with dozens of other agencies that now includes
details from more than 455 million encounters.
About 7 in 10 law
enforcement
agencies used
license plate
scanners in 2012
and an
overwhelming
majority planned to
acquire such
systems or
expand their use,
according to a study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a
research and policy group.
Civil liberties advocates say these files need to be open to public
scrutiny to prevent government overreach and unconstitutional
privacy invasions.
On the other side are government and law enforcement officials
who say they're not misusing the systems and that tracking and
storing the data can help with criminal investigations, either to
incriminate or exonerate a suspect.
"At some point, you have to trust and believe that the agencies that
you utilize for law enforcement are doing what's right and what's
best for the community, and they're not targeting your community,"
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. John Gaw said.
In San Diego's case, records are kept for up to two years, but other
agencies keep them five years or more and are limited mainly by
server space.
"If that information
is deleted or
purged too quickly,
then we lost that,
and we can never
go back," said Lt.
Karen Stubkjaer of
the San Diego
Sheriff's
Department.
Michael Robertson, a libertarian Internet entrepreneur best
known for creating MP3.com, stands for a
A police vehicle driven by San Diego County Deputy Sheriff
Ben Chassen reads the license plates of c
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In Robertson's case against the San Diego Association of
Governments, he was seeking access to a sweeping system that
links the San Diego Police Department, San Diego County Sheriff's
Department and eight other law enforcement agencies. The
sheriff's department alone has made 9.8 million scans since the
system was introduced in 2009, Stubkjaer said.
Robertson, who founded and later sold the MP3.com digital
musical service, has no problem with officials using the technology
for legitimate purposes like tracking down stolen cars. But he says
license plate readers are ripe for abuse, and there's no reason for
long-term storage of data on innocent people.
"I want a strong police force," he said. "But I also want my personal
freedom."
Neither the San Diego case nor the Los Angeles ruling sets legal
precedent, but they're part of a growing debate.
"License plate readers are part of a larger conversation," said
Chuck Wexler, head of the Police Executive Research Forum.
"Technology is changing how the police view crime, and it is
raising a number of public policy issues: How long do you hold on
to this information? And what part of this information should the
public have access to?"
___
Tami Abdollah can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/latams
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