ALPR
tute a seizure nor an apprehension under the Fourth tions may be delegated to third parties. Returning to the
Amendment. Video technologies, moreover, undergo red-light camera example, various municipalities
Constitutional contest based on “due process”. Owing engage suppliers to administer those systems. Third
to the difficulty of identifying a particular driver and parties retain ownership, install, calibrate and operate
verifying him/her as the vehicle’s title-holder, automatic the cameras, prepare and mail notices and collect fines.
violations are issued to the owner-of-record: a practice Often, those firms’ compensation is tied to the number
some see as infringing “due process” rights. The Sev- violations: an arrangement which could have the unin-
enth Circuit (Chicago, Illinois) addressed the matter tended consequence of performing counter to the gen-
most recently. It found that fining a vehicle owner (rather eral interest. Because income is proportional to the
than the driver) is not a violation of “due process”. Fur- volume of tickets, contractors inadvertently can be
ther, the Court ruled “that photographs are at least as incentivized to err on the side of issuing citations in
reliable as live testimony”; endorsing traffic cameras as questionable situations. Other camera-based enforce-
dependable and functionally identical to the conven- ment applications may face comparable concerns as
tional proof offered by an eye-witness account. outside companies are utilized in kind, due to the large
start-up investment and operational
Smile,please...
“Video-based
expenses for servicing hardware, soft-
Some automatic systems not only iden-
tify the vehicle but also capture images
apparatus which
ware and databases.
Arguably, the harshest potential unin-
of its occupants. In addition to facing
hunt for stolen
tended consequence is abuse of the sta-
legal challenges, they could endure
practical opposition due to undesirable
vehicles
tistics accumulated by traffic cameras.
Data stored by those devices may
unintended consequences. For exam-
indiscriminately
include the time, date, license plate and
ple, imagery of a red-light running vio-
lation might depict a cheating spouse, a
query license plate
location of vehicles. Take, for example,
outfitting an entire police department
teenager joyriding with proscribed
alphanumerics”
with mobile license plate readers. The
associates or an employee traveling scope of data collected would be
outside his/her sales territory in a company car. Most prodigious.
camera systems are not emplaced to proffer evidence Ultimately, a fleet of police interceptors could accu-
of infidelity, aid parents in monitoring their offspring mulate a database of sufficient granularity as to reflect
nor employers in tracking workers’ actions. In red-light the behavior of most drivers in the jurisdiction. Although
running circumstances, the intent is to enforce traffic individuals are in private vehicles and in public space,
law and not furnish unintended confirmation of extrane- where anyone could see them at any given moment,
ous acts. many would consider the details of their daily routines
Another potential unintended consequence in the law to be privileged and not readily accessible to others.
enforcement context arises from the fact that some func- The database might be exploited by those who are
48 Vol 4 No 1 Thinking Highways
www.thinkinghighways.com
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