ABC 24 Reporter Mistakenly Listed as Possible Sex Offender

While there is likely no problem with the license plate scanning portion of this software, that cannot be said of this tagging of "Possible Sex Offender" feature. That feature causes this software to be one of the worst ever. To tag everyone living in a building as "Possible Sex Offender" because one person in the building is, is absolute foolishness. Buildings that contain apartments, always have apartment designations in their respective address. How this software, with this feature, was ever purchased and allowed to operate, is beyond me.

UPDATE: Lets see, when police do home address checks on sex offenders, do they also BANG on doors of possible sex offenders, tagged by this dumb system feature?

See also and w/picture of reader "License plate reader proves a sound investment for Olive Branch police." The system is known as "SkyCop" click on link for pictures adnd description of SkyCop.

2-4-2012 Tennessee:

MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - An ABC 24 reporter and an entire Memphis apartment complex is flagged as possible sex offenders, all because of one North Carolina man.

Tennessee residents can trace sex offenders through the TBI website; just put in an address and see if there are any close by. However, Memphis police know if there are any close by simply by scanning license plates. But if you live in an apartment complex, or if you share the same street name as an offender, police officers could think you're an offender too.

ABC 24's Joy Lambert was shocked when she found out her car registration was flagged as a possible sex offender. The License Plate Reader system manager for the Memphis Police Department, John Harvey, said the sex offender is a man named Carlton Wood from North Carolina. He's the reason Lambert, and her entire apartment complex, are red flagged. Harvey said, "It has to do with the possibility that a sex offender lives in a certain address or within an address. Since you live in apartments, the program is designed to look for matches on the street number and street name." Wood's last reported address has the same street name and numbers as Lambert's complex.

That's how all the matches come up with MPD's license plate reader and matches happen all the time. Warrants, felons, even gang members pop up the same way, helping police to identify a threat or a criminal. But innocent people, if they have similar addresses, are flagged as well.

If an officer saw the "possible sex offender" flag, Harvey said, "Typically they wouldn't do anything if you were just out in the public, unless you were in a school zone, or near a park or something where sex offenders are not supposed to be. Then if they were to do something they would click on the alert and it would tell them who that sex offender is." He told Lambert, "In your case that sex offender was a male; they wouldn't do anything most likely." However, if a male from the same complex was caught near a school, "They would probably stop and check them," Harvey said.

MPD said license plate readers work the way they want them too, which means if your address is flagged it will stay that way. "There's really nothing you can do," Harvey said, "because the officers need to know there's a possible sex offender there."

MPD stresses to its officers, when a flag comes up they are just possibilities - they still have to go through police protocol to determine a threat or violation. Police have made thousands of arrests because of the license plate readers. Even though it makes flagged citizens uncomfortable, MPD said the system is keeping Memphis safer. ..Source.. by Joy Lambert

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CA- High-tech device polices streets

11-16-2008 California:
Lomita has become the latest South Bay city to begin using computerized technology capable of scanning thousands of license plates a day.

It is presently the only local city that contracts with the Sheriff's Department for law enforcement services to use what's known as automatic number plate recognition (PlateScan). (Carson had one, but the car it was installed in was totaled in a crash.)

Consisting of a trio of cameras attached to the roof of a patrol car that take snapshots of the plates of parked vehicles and those approaching in the opposing lane, the images are instantly analyzed by a computer.

Officers are immediately notified by an audible tone if, say, the car is stolen.

"You forget the thing is doing work while you're driving," said Deputy John Despot, Lomita's community officer.

"It has a 95 percent accuracy rate," he added. "This technology has the ability to run up to 1,000 plates an hour."

That's far more efficient than the former method that required officers to manually enter license plate numbers into a system to check them. Previously, a diligent officer might be able to check 30 to 40 plates per shift.

The infrared camera can also take pictures of license plates at night and at speeds up to

140 mph.

Operational for the past two months, the two $32,000 units Lomita purchased and installed have already begun to pay off.

Recently a man involved in a domestic dispute and driving his wife's vehicle she had reported stolen was apprehended near Pacific Coast Highway and Palos Verdes Drive North.
Also, while driving to Norwalk to get the system's software updated, Despot happened to drive by a stolen vehicle. The driver was caught.

So far the Lomita sheriff's station has recovered seven stolen vehicles that it would not have done previously, Despot said.

But stolen vehicles are far from the only application:

Vehicles tagged by an Amber Alert, used to find missing children, also can be tracked.

Deputies will soon begin using the system to check whether registered sex offenders are living the required distance away from schools, parks and other restricted locations.

Deputies will also be able to determine whether the registered owner of a particular vehicle has warrants out for his or her arrest.

Or how about linking the system up to a database of people who have outstanding parking tickets? That, too, can be done.

If all this sounds a little big brotherish, Despot said the American Civil Liberties Union has signed off on the idea because it does not involve racial profiling.

It is simply a neutral data-gathering system that can perform a task quicker than a person.

That, in part, is why Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Doug Stern, an attorney, doesn't believe the system crosses any lines when it comes to privacy.

"Should you really have an expectation of privacy when you drive on a public street?" asked Stern, whose town soon will have its own sheriff's patrol car equipped with the device. "It clearly has very substantial benefits in terms of crime prevention and crime solving."

The database is continually being updated and enlarged.

For instance, the Sheriff's Department has 17 million plates on file.

And local law enforcement agencies are buying devices from the same manufacturer so that information can be pooled.

Other South Bay cities using the devices include:

El Segundo, which has one license plate recognition system. Since officers began using it in September 2007, it has read 324,682 license plates.

Torrance has purchased one unit, and is in the process of testing it and training officers to use it.

Redondo Beach has had one for about a year.

"We recover one stolen car - sometimes two - per shift," Sgt. Phil Keenan said. "It's fantastic."

Gardena has been using one license plate scanner for the past two months. It has recovered eight stolen vehicles, according to Lt. Mike Saffell.

Manhattan Beach also recently approved the purchase of two of the devices, while Hawthorne and the Los Angeles Police Department also have deployed the system.

What the Sheriff's Department has dubbed ASAP - the acronym stands for Advanced Surveillance And Protection - is still in its infancy.

So far, 29 department cars - including two in Lomita - are equipped with the system. By early next year that will rise to 45 patrol cars.

Using geographic information systems technology that can pinpoint a vehicle's location accurately combined with the compact mobile digital units aboard each equipped patrol car, ever more data is gathered.

Patterns and trends can emerge - that vehicle caught on camera repeatedly parked outside a house where the registered owner does not live, might signify it's a crack house, for instance.

"We're kind of doing intelligence gathering," Despot said. "(Data) we're capturing today might solve a crime next year." ..News Source.. by Nick Green and Sandy Mazza, Staff Writers

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TX- Tyler City Marshals using new camera technology to catch offenders

Starting today, Tyler City Marshals are using some new high tech toys. It's a program that uses cameras to scan and record your license plates, even when you're not driving.

Today, KLTV 7's Layron Livingston hitched a ride with the City Marshals to find out if the city is getting a little too intrusive.

After more than 26 years of law enforcement, deputy City Marshal David Decur has seen lots of things added to the dashboard of a patrol car.

"This is by far the most advanced yet."

He and his fellow Marshals are the first to use 'plate-scan,' software which uses wireless technology to automatically record and photograph license plates.

"Think of it as having 4 very observant officers, with really good memories, always keeping a watch out on the roadways. Plate-scan uses 3 cameras mounted on top of the patrol car with another mounted in the back window."

"This thing has eyes for us, all around the vehicle now."

The system is connected to city and statewide license plate databases.

As officers drive, 'plate-scan' chirps, beeps and snaps photos.

It's seeking out warrants, outstanding parking tickets, stolen vehicles, and even registered sex offenders.

"If an officer is near a school and they hit a sex offender, they're going to know that they're near a school, or parked near a school and they're not supposed to be," said David Decur.

Officers have no problem spotting vehicles of interest. The system lets them know.

Violators literally get the boot, or more. We saw a driver today picked up for more than 950 dollars in outstanding warrants.

But what about the law abiding? Is this new technology an invasion of your privacy?

Municipal Court Administrator Cam McCabe doesn't think so.

"Anybody on the road is already deemed to be public. It's the same things the officers were doing manually - typing in your license plate without you knowing.

Marshals say the overall goal is to deny law breakers access to your roadways.

The municipal court says it hopes to cover the $125,000 price for the new technology with the outstanding warrants it will help bring in.

This afternoon, about $2,000 were collected. ..News Source.. by Layron Livingston

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NY- Monroe police are scanning for crime - New computers provide patrol officers with nearly instantaneous access to vehicle information

8-11-2008 New York:

Monroe - The Monroe Police Department has recently implemented license plate scanning technology that provides a variety of technical capability’s and law enforcement options.

With a scan rate of 30 plates per second, the system will alert a patrolman via the on-board computer system if the target vehicle is reported stolen, if the registered owner of the vehicle is wanted for a crime, has a suspended or revoked driver’s license, or has a suspended registration.

The License Plate Recognition System was acquired with a $20,000 grant and relies on two roof-mounted cameras on the patrol car.

According to Monroe Det. James Frankild, the system has many applications. For example, relying on Global Positioning System technology which provides geographic information via orbiting satellites, the location of all parks, schools and day care facilities in the community can be entered into the LPR database and enclosed within a “virtual fence.”

Vehicles owned or used within the region by registered sex offenders can also be stored and automatically alert the police when the sex offender drives into and violates any area within the community that’s established as off-limits within the virtual fence.

The LPR can also be used as an important tracking tool for locating criminal suspects or witnesses when the individual’s vehicle information is entered in the system. As the officer is cruising in his patrol car, the LPR will be scanning vehicles for the specific car as a target.

LPR random scans of parking lots while cruising can place a car and driver at a particular time and location when a suspect denies being at the crime scene.

Recently released parolees can be stored within the database and violation of curfew or entry into an off-limit location such as a bar can be determined if a positive license plate scan emerges. A similar alarm can be raised for orders of protection. The virtual fence can be stored within the LPR database defining the protected person’s home or place of employment.

If the LPR detects the car of the person assigned the restriction order within the protected area, the officer on patrol will be alerted.

Monroe Police Officer Greg Witte was a key player during the implementation of the system. He said in the first 20 minutes of operation, the system detected a vehicle with a suspended registration. Within the first week of operation 51 alarms were recorded he said.

“The possibilities with the LPR are endless and will change as the job of law enforcement changes,” Frankild said. “ The LPR, in my opinion, will help keep residents in the Village of Monroe safer and will help us in doing or job which is to seek justice for the victims of crimes.” ..News Source.. by Bill Lemanski

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