License Plate Scanners

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License plate scanners make work easier and more accurate for police officers, probation officers, and local traffic police all over the United States. The question is, can they do so without victimizing every law abiding citizen that travels the road on a daily basis? Although license plate scanners are efficient for the criminal justice field, every day civilians consider them to be an invasion of privacy. In this paper there will be a detailed definition of license plate scanners and what they are used for, and where the problems arose with the expansion; the controversy that’s been taking place over the past few years will be discussed by explaining what license plate scanners are attempting to prevent, and clarifying how people feel about the scanners. Usage and Expansion It seems as though over the past few years, people have become experts at “beating the system”. It is seen way to often; someone slamming on breaks when they see a police car from afar, or even better, someone turning into a random parking lot just so that an officer cannot run their tags. Would it not be much more effective if these drivers did not the cop? A simple solution for driver who seems to have found a way to break the system would be these license plate scanners. How they work is, a computer scans the symbols and compares them with a database of stolen cars, along with other crime records (Weise & Toppo, 2013). One town in San Francisco has license plate scanners at every entrance and exit; every time a vehicle passes the entrance if the town, “SNAP!” A “police camera” snaps a digital photo of its license plate (Weise & Toppo 2013). The use of license plate scanners is rapidly expanding nationwide; approximately three in four police agencies use license plate scanners; a survey by the non-profit Police Executive Research Forum

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