ALPR Issues Come to Minnesota

On Friday, August 10, 2012, one of the major newspapers in the Twin Cities gave local focus to an issue this blog has been examining for nearly a year: the use of Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology by police departments across the nation. In the story run by the Star Tribune, some interesting details emerged with regard to Minnesota and the Twin Cities:

• There is no state law that sets a time limit on how long the recorded movement of a vehicle can be retained before the record must be destroyed,
• To the extent the data has not been erased and your car's license plate number is known to others, anyone can request a record of movement of your personal vehicle, and 
• Seven jurisdictions in the Twin Cities currently use ALPR technology with the number growing rapidly.

To learn more, including the ACLU of Minnesota's spin on the situation, use the links below: 

• Police Cameras Quietly Capture License Plates, Collect Data (Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 10, 2012)
• ACLU Seeks Details on Automatic License Plate Readers in Massive Nationwide Request (ACLU of Minnesota, July 30, 2012)

Comment: As I have said before, this is how things look when policy and law fall behind technology.  Note also, simply recording a license plate number along with the time of that event has absolutely no value unless that data tag includes WHERE.  For more reflection on this situation, your attention is directed to two previous posts on this blog:

• License Plate Readers - Another Part of the Location-Privacy Debate (November 28, 2011)
• More on Automated License Plate Recognition - Another Brewing Storm (March 27, 2012)

Lead graphic: Vigilant Video