Monday, August 13, 2012

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: 


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:

Lead graphic: Vigilant Video

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