Law enforcement and privacy concerns in Massachusetts
Massachusetts has a plan: create a database which could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — and store that information indefinitely so local police, state police, federal agencies, and prosecutors could access it as they choose; privacy advocates are worried
;Privacy advocates are worried about Massachusetts’s m over the state’s plans to create a database which could map drivers’ whereabouts with police cruiser-mounted scanners that capture thousands of license plates per hour — and storing that information indefinitely so local police, state police, federal agencies, and prosecutors could access it as they choose.
The Boston Herald reports that the Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) scanners instantly check for police alerts, warrants, traffic violations, and parking tickets.
The Executive Office of Public Safety has approved twenty-seven grants totaling $500,000 to buy scanners for state police and twenty-six local departments. The acquisition of the scanners is on hold while state lawyers develop a policy for the use of a common state database all the scanners would feed.
The Herald notes that some ALPR scanners already are deployed on Massachusetts roads. State police have two, and several cities use them for parking enforcement.
