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Show HERA DAILY Sunday, September 9, 2007 L B3 D License plate scanners help recover stolen cars Jacques Billeaud THE ASSOCIATED PHOENIX as mounted on the light bars or bumpers of cars spot a license plate, the numbers are fed to a computer processor in the trunk where the information is matched against databases. A burst of license plate images appear on the laptop when an officer is driving freeways and busy streets, beeping each time a car is scanned. Then, the officer must verify, through a call to a dispatcher, that the numbers captured by the device match the information in the database. The prospect of catching more suspected felons prompted police in Springdale, Ohio, to get a card reader for one of their 13 cruisers. A man wanted on a burglary warrant was recently arrested in the Cincinnati suburb after he happened to drive past a police off icer, who wasn't on the lookout for the suspect but learned of him through the scanner, said Lt. Tom Wells, a supervisor for the department. "It's like finding a needle in a haystack," he added. The scanners can sometimes help police direct urgent PRESS Officer David Callister was about to drive past the 1991 Nissan sedan when an alert sounded inside his cruiser and an image of a license plate flashed on his laptop. It was a signal that the runof-the-miclunker was stolen. The alert came from a $20,000 device that uses small infrared cameras mounted on the police car to automatically scan license plates and match the numbers against databases of stolen vehicles and people wanted for crimes. "That car wasn't even on my radar screen," said Callister. The Arizona Department of Public Safety officer was focused on other vehicles as he searched for stolen cars in an apartment complex parking lot. "The plate reader would get you stuff you wouldn't normally be thinking about." An estimated 400 of the nation's 18,000 police agencies own at least one license plate scanner, and police officials expect the readers to become more common in the coming years as the price of the devices falls. The readers let officers scan about 75 times more plates shift than during an eight-hothe traditional method; writing down numbers and running them past a dispatcher. Even though scanner-equippe- d cars represent a small part of a given agency's fleet, the devices are helping police recover stolen cars, find people wanted on criminal warrants and respond to urgent situations, such as robbers on the run. For civil libertarians, however, the scanners raise the troubling question about whether the government will expand its use of the technology to track people's private lives. "That's a lesson in history: Whenever the government collects data, sooner or later they will misuse it," said Jeff Gamso, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. But as police were quick to point out, anyone can jot down license plate numbers on a street corner, and that's what the scanners do, only ., ROSS D. FRANKLINAssociated Press Arizona Department of Public Safety officer David Callister adjusts his infrared camera mounted on the front bumper of his police cruiser on Aug. 14, in Phoenix. The new cameras have a potential to read thousands of license plates during d routine shift, automatically outputting the information into the dashboard police computer in the cruiser, far more than an officer could do by hand. more efficiently. "What privacy?" asked Patrick Camden, a spokesman for the Chicago Police Department, which uses a small number of the scanners. "You're driving on a public way. There is no privacy about driving a car on a public way." In central and southern Arizona, a dozen Department of Public Safety vehicles with scanners are trying to catch stolen cars headed to Mexico and disrupt smugglers using vehicles to move ripped-of- f drugs and illegal immigrants. The California Highway Patrol is trying to combat the state's high auto theft rate by ' scattering its 16 vehicles with scanners on urban freeways and rural highways arid put- ; ting a handful of stationary readers on the ground. In Long Beach, Calif., where seven vehicles with scanners were used to catch car thieves, officials were testing a plan to link a database of parking ticket scofflaws to the scanners. No studies have documented the effectiveness of scanners on a large scale. But some police agencies credit the devices with raising their vehicle recovery and arrest numbers. The appeal of the scanners is simple: The more plate numbers that are run, the better the chances of spotting stolen cars and wanted criminals. And much of the work is done automatically, allowing officers to focus more on the road. After the two to four camer Police and scanner makers said they didn't intend to misuse the technology. The day when t he readers are as common as laptops in cruisers is a long way off, said cause the chrome ball on one truck's trailer hitch obscured the plate. Callister's suspicion was raised by things the scanner doesn't check: damage to the lock of one truck and the fact that the other was sitting in a position that an owner wouldn't likely park in. While he was shuttling between the two trucks, his scanner picked up on the beat up sedan. Callister called in tow trucks to haul away the three stolen Mark Windover, president of scanner maker Remington ELSAG of Madison, N.C., but the devices are clearly gaining acceptance in law enforcement circles. "Every police agency we talk to wants it," he said. Bryan Shockley, a spokesman for PIPS Technology j a manufacturer based in Knox-villTenn., defended his company's scanners, saying, "Our systems are not designed to track innocent individuals. Our system is designed to identify people that have broken the law." -- vehicles. The most frequently cited potential drawback comes from privacy advocates, some of whom worry authorities will use the readers to track the movements of people, a risk they said will grow as the devices drop in e, g price and proliferate. People may drive to abortion the Net: On t Arizona Department of Public Safety: www.azdps.gov I California Highway Patrol: www.chp.ca.gov might prefer to keep that private, the advocates said. Springdale (Ohio) "I shouldn't have to take exPolice Department: www. tra precautions to prevent the springdale.orgDEPART government from seeing what Police index. htm I am doing every Thursday searches. t Electronic Frontier Foundation: www.eff.org Earlier this yea, as authorinight," said Lee Tien, an attorPIPS Technology: www. ties in southern Arizona sought ney for the Electronic Frontier a suspicious car on Interstate Foundation, a group concerned pipstechnoJogy.comhomeus about privacy rights in the 10, an officer who entered Remington ELSAG: information about the vehicle digital age. www.remingtonelsag.com into his scanner discovered the suspected drug smugglers had SO YEARS OF FALLING IN LOVE Jtemmt passed him 20 minutes earlier. With an estimate of the speed and location of the vehicle, of. ficers located it, made arrests OMEGA 9 6 ' and seized a large amount of and $80,000 methamphetamine counclinics, substance-abus- e seling meetings, race tracks or other lawful gatherings but Jiii 8 in cash. The readers aren't without limitations. Unlike anti-thedevices such as LoJack, the card read- A v' ft e ers can't do tracking of a car that's outside the view of the cameras. The scanners capture only what they see and sometimes around them they miss nearby plates or take pictures of political signs in front yards or company names on the sides of During his swing through the Phoenix apartment complex, Callister spotted two stolen four-dopickups without the help of his scanner, which didn't take pictures of the plates on the two suspected if 0 - real-tim- if -- vehicles in one case probably be g immigrant-smugglin- " LOSEE Jewelers w if- . Only In CcrrnwTiin! Sol af (Mil) www.loseeJewelers.net ESTAHDSHED T95'g mm NOTICE OF PraMARY ELECTION for THE CITY OF PROVO On Tuesday, September 11, 2007, the qualified voters of Provo City will elect two candidates from CityWide Council District II, Council District 3 and Council District 4 to advance to the November 6, 2007 General Election. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ' :' ; j-'- Place Council Precinct Polling Address 1&44 Provost Elementary 629 South 1000 East 5 2 Franklin Elementary 350 South 600 West 3 3&45 Spring Creek Elementary 1740 S.Nevada Avenue 3 4&6 Historic 51 South University Ave. 5 5&9 Farrer Elementary 100 North 600 East 3 7&14 Provo City Center lobby 351 West Center Street 5 8&34 Old UVSC Provo CampusBYU 1395 North Canyon Rd. 1 10.38&46 Eldred Center 270 West 500 North 4 11 Wasatch Elementary 1080 North 1000 East 2 12 Wasatch Elementary 1080 North 1000 East 3 Courthouse Rotunda District SAMPLE BALLOT PROVO CITY, UTAH PRIMARY ELECTION t TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007 if 13.23&27 1 5,21 &22 ' O 3 Amelia Earhart Elementary Amelia Earhart Elementary High School 20&24 Independence 25&31 Westridge Elementary 3 2585 West 200 South 4 636 N.Independence Ave. 4 1720 West 1460 North 4 Centennial Middle School 305 East 2320 North 28 Brent Brown Dodge 1825 North University Pkwy 29 Brent Brown Dodge 1825 North University Pkwy 30&32 Edgemont Elementary 566 East 3650 North 33&36 BYU Conference 39&40 Vote (or one (withdrawn) BRIAN J. SMITH The Council District II race on for all precincts. ballots appear City-Wid- f COUNCILyDISTRICT 4 (4 YEAR TERM) e Vote for one Precincts receiving a ballot including ' the race for Council District 3 are: 2, 3,5,9, 12, 17, 18, 35, 45, & 47 SHERRIE EVERETT HALL it BARBARA SANDSTROM I HOWARD STONE5 i vHrrwwTTnnrN i Precincts receiving a ballot including the for Council District 4 are: , 10, 13, 1920, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 31, 38 '1 Timpview High School 3570 North 650 East 2 42&49 Utah Community Credit Union 188 West 5200 North 1 43 Franklin Elementary 350 South 600 West 5 If Provost Elementary 629 South 1000 East 3 Farrer Elementary 100 North 600 East 2 (withdrawn) ; race 1 2 - MELANIE MCCOARD STOWE .; 4 - i MIDGE JOHNSON I 770 East University Pkwy Center COUNCIL DISTRICT 3 (4 YEAR TERM) II STEVE TURLEY will 2585 West 200 South 26&37 " O m CHRISTOPHER 525 South 1600 West IT I'li'llliiuwi III COY D. PORTER 5 Sunset View Elementary E H 750 West 200 North 17&35 If DISTRICT (4 YEAR TERM) Vote (or one CITY-WID- Dixon Middle School 1 9 VOTE LIKE THIS: 4 4664 North Canyon Rd. next to the candidate's name. To the candidate of your choice, completely darken the OVAL next to your choice. Use ballpoint pen with dark ink (not red). All distinguishing marks or erasureare you tear, deface, or wrongly mark this ballot, contact Provo City Recorder's Office or a Poll Worker. ' To vote for vote on s measure, fill in the oval forbidden and make the ballot void. 1591 N.Jordan Avenue Canyon Crest Elementary 19 TO VOTERS: INSTRUCTIONS Grandview Elementary 16&41 18 PROVO CITY RECORDER 'VOTER QUALIFICATIONS: To qualify to vole in a Provo City primary or general election, a person must: ' Be a citizen of the United States; Be at least 18 years old on the day of the next election: Be a resident for at least 30 days immediately before; the ' Be voter ney election; a registered Have a principal place of residence in a specific voting precinct. .). UCA20A.-2-IO- I For questions, please call 852-652- 4 & 46. |