Interesting Cop Car

looks like a nice idea. Be curious if anyone buys into this.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?JSONLINK=/video/tech/2009/07/04/holmes.super.police.car.cnn

 

wow that is a badass car...Especially the license plate recognition system...the fact its manufactured in GA is interesting also. Thanks for the link! Very interesting!

 

I hope they don't try and implement that, that kind of shit just pisses me off. There is no reason for a computer to be checking everyones license plate while they drive down the road. More Big Brother Shit

 

I can confirm to these rumors. This is the company here in GA trying to build specialized cop cars. I read something about them a while back in a road and track or some other mainstream car magazine. I probably still have the article.

 

I like it!

Pros:
Keeps uninsured vehicles off the street
Easy way to find stolen cars
Notifies cop if a passing car's owner has a warrant

Cons:
We all have to run a front license plate.

It's not like when you pass a cop alarms are going to sound and the screen flashes "WARNING: MATTHEW BALL!!! FOLLOW AND TICKET!!!" Actually... maybe it will...

 

I like it too. Too many uninsured idiots out there riding a car on the streets. If I have to pay then everyone else should too.....and those that don't deserve to get caught.

It's better than having a cop behind you trying to type in or call in the plate number manually (and yes they run your plates all the time if they feel the need to check). Then he can simply focus on driving and be more safer in return.

 

they've been doing this in europe for years...the way I see it, if I'm doing nothing wrong, I have nothing to worry about. I vote yes

 

Wow. I can't believe people like the idea of running the plates on every car without a reason.

If were going to start throwing out ammendments to the Constitution lets go ahead and get rid of the second ammendment too.

Where do you draw the line?

 

I honestly don't see the issue. The law is the law and if you aren't breaking it then what's to worry about?

 

I'll play along.

How about the government listens in on all your phone calls and internet traffic.

Are you ok with this? I mean after all if you aren't breaking the law then what's to worry about?

 

FYI they already do

 

Pretty cool, I just think its a little flashy. Honestly do you really think its nessecary to have all those freakin lights? Its about time they got on the ball with technology.

 

Ehh cool car.. I too don't like the idea of scanning plates. What happens next? We become like Cali with all the emissions crap and modded cars aren't allowed. What then... they scan your plate and it comes up as the car having improper mods or being ticketed before for illegal mods so they pull you over again just to check..

.... Ghey

 

While I completely agree we're approaching a fine line, I don't think this has crossed it. Tapping phone calls and internet traffic is an invasion of personal privacy. Scanning cars driving on public streets is not. Your tags are out there for anybody to see, running them through a database isn't what I would consider an invasion of privacy. I think the amount of good a system like this will provide will greatly outnumber the bad. Think about all the abduction alerts you see on the interstate...no need. Someone fleas a crime scene and there's a witness, caught. Warrants for arrests, stolen cars, expired tags, uninsured motorists...the list goes on.

This is all assuming they do not use the system for probable cause - that's when you cross the line. If they see you coming down the road, the system flags you and someone pulls you over because you MAY be a menace to society, that's wrong.

 

For that reason ALONE i support it.

 

Funny how everyone is so willing to give up personal freedoms and become part of the collective. What's next peek in the windows to see if you are doing something illegal. If you are not illegal, you must not mind if we take a look.

 

I agree with LiquidForce and Doug on the cell phone/internet usage deal. Plates eh not a big deal because it's public info. I can grab your license plate info and get info if I want right now. That's in public view. But cell phone convos and internet usage is more on a 'private' scale and I will not tolerate that a bit.

It's a matter of public info vs private info. Highly debated subject so please don't misinterpret what I meant above.

 

I expected better from you.

might as well install a camera in your house and monitor your activities. nothing to hide, right?

reeks of big brother. what happened to probable cause? the only reason they can really get away with this is due to the licensed and privileged nature of operating an automobile. I still don't like it, and it's a slippery slope. Yes, it is public info. However, I inherently distrust any government (as most people should) and question what kind of precedent it sets. It isn't this EXACT issue that is troubling, it's paving the way for loss of civil liberties that bothers me.

I am not willing to trade lower car insurance premiums for even a perceived loss of "privacy". ever.

as someone who has served in the military, saying things like "I haven't done anything, I have nothing to hide" makes me watch to club baby seals. I didn't spend time launching tomahawk missiles at bad people so you could shit all over the 4th amendment.

 

The company that I work for does targeted cross marketing based on demographic information that is readily available. The amount of information I can get from just a phone number is pretty scary. Now imagine the police database can access all of the other information about you just from your license plate. They will know alot more than wether or not you have insurance and could easily come up with a good reason to pull you.

While all this can be done currently it is done one at a time and the officer will generally have a reason prior to searching your plate. If it is done in mass it can be used as a filter to find a reason.


Imagine your in a bad part of town and you drive by a cop and your plate gets run automatically. Cross referencing your demographic data it comes back that your a single college educated 30 year old white male that makes 75k a year. With a little profiling built into the system it is determined that one likely reason your there is to buy drugs. The other reason it comes back with is that you may be lost. I bet the cop will pull you over anyways. But thats ok because your not doing anything wrong and you like being pulled over and explaining why you are there.

 

I'm not trying to sound like a jerk with the above post, but it is very sad and disheartening to see what people are willing to sacrifice that their fathers worked so hard to achieve.

if you go down that path, you won't realize what you have until it is gone.

 

whoops, didn't mean to thank you, meant to quote you...

while I see your side, again it comes down to public vs. private. Your tag is public information on a public street. What you do in your home is your business, which is what I feel the 4th amendment addresses.

slippery slope describes it best...I'm not naive enough to believe it's going to stop here. If this law gets passed, then in a couple years when everyone's comfortable with it, they'll push the envelope even further....and further...and unfortunately, there's not much you or I can do about it.

 

I agree ghey, but in the cap and trade bullshit his Highness was trying to get passed had provisions for a nationwide Cali emission requirement.

 

BTW I like the car. The suicide doors and the rubberized seating in the back are a nice touch. It will probably be way too expensive though.

 

I agree with the arguments for the record. It is a VERY slippery slope indeed and I now do see what everyone means by carving the way.

I like where this thread is going. Nice civilized and educational discussion......this is what WRXAtlanta should be like at all times!

 

SOOO, i just looked up my phone number. It knows my siblings.

 

I am in agreement about that. the only part of you I disagree with is the "if I have nothing to hide statement".

I just don't see that much benefit compared to what the people stand to lose (a lot). oh so you might catch people without insurance. big fucking deal - this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. I don't like the state executive branch (who the police work for aka the governor) just doing whatever they want. who has access to the information? how will it be used? what happens in a security breach of this system? what if you are falsely targeted by this system? etc, ad naseum. just because europe (namely england) does it, doesn't make it acceptable in my eyes.

but yes, there are things you can do about it. there always is. don't fear the government or just accept things as 'the way they are'. I hate to sound like some tinfoil hat douche (because I'm not), but always remember the purpose of government is to serve the populace

 

Very well stated Nicad.

 

This is what I see when I look up a phone number


This is from our demo system. There is a lot more that shows up but I'd loose my job if I disclosed it.

 

This isn't a change at all folks... Police can already run your tag at any time without a reason. It's an identifier for governmental use and it's not even your personal property. If they can read it, they can/will/do call it in. All this new system would do is run the tag FASTER and eliminate a lot of useless police radio traffic. If you don't want "big brother" to run your car tags, keep your car in your garage with the door closed.

Second, it's already standard practice to browse through emails and listen to phone calls. The excuse is that they only screen conversations that contain phrases and words that are considered a threat. Like... Obama, hate, bomb, white house... all in one sentence like the one I just typed. So, sorry, but somewhere a computer is flagging this and someone will probably read it.

I think the problem is in that we have to be willing to give up a few things to gain a few things. I'll let someone listen to my phone calls if it'll help bust criminals.

 

Interrogations, butt probing, etc. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I feel bad for you now. :keke:ssh:

 

haha...

well, I hate that America has become a place where something like that happens, but I'd rather have guys in black glasses knock on my door than some Muslim extremist blowing up the grocery store down the street. So what's worse? Letting someone listen to what we say, or get our (and the bad guy's) privacy back?

 

Atlanta PD are already using automatic tag scanning (Platescan). So are other metro jurisdictions. Just a few weeks ago a felon was apprehended in Gwinnett because of an stolen tag match from a scanner.

I see nothing wrong with the system. It just speeds up the existing system and makes it safer - typing while driving is not so good.

Motor vehicle tags are in the public domain. Nobody is peering behind your curtains. When it comes to privacy or probable cause, this is far less of an issue than random DUI checkpoints.

Caught in Gwinnett

More background: “You have no expectation of privacy on a public road”

 

whoa . this thread blew up. I will be interested how this pans out in GA and see what kind of feedback comes from the cops who get to test this out.

I hear the car's nav / plate lookup system runs on Windows .... joke.

Enjoy

 

This is one of the better threads in awhile! On issues like this, I always go back to Ben Franklin:

"Those who give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

That being said, the particular example of running plates automatically is not the worst thing in the world - I think keeping uninsured vehicles off the road is a very valid argument. However like it has been said, it is a very slippery slope. The last thing I want is the US to end up like the UK and have cameras on every corner and Big Brother over your shoulder. The UK is even talking about having computer systems that know when you speed in your carso you can be fined accordingly, without having a police officer pull you over. THAT is the slippery slope.

And the "if I am not doing anything illegal I have nothing to worry about" argument assumes that at all times you have a benevolent government that works for the populace. Though that may be more or less true at the moment I do NOT believe that will always necessarily be the case.

 

Times have changed. You dont see us hanging people for being Gay. Or not letting women vote.

 

In Ben Franklin's time you'd get shot for some of the things American citizens do. Clearly America has gotten weak. IMHO, there is a better way to deal with criminals, but it'll never happen. Once people are lined up in front of a firing squad for stealing cars, robbing people, rape, plotting terrorist attacks, and other felonies the need for plate scanners and wire taps may die down. That's my plan...

 

Talk about a slippery slope. This has been tried with many of despotic regimes before. We don't want to end up like Stalinist Russia now, do we? Thats where widely applied capital punishment will eventually lead if implemented again. Soon you'd have "enemies of the state (political dissenters)" being executed on the basis of "Protecting National Security." No thanks.

Benjamin Franklin was correct that liberty comes at the price of safety. I think complete privacy in this day and age would put the government at fault in the sense that it may not be doing as much as it could to protect its citizens. I really don't have too much of a problem with this tag scanning system in particular, but I will say that things like this almost inevitably lead to more drastic measures...like the monitors mentioned above that fine you automatically if you car goes over a certain speed...and that I have a problem with. I'm all for law and order, but "living in fear" is unnecessary in modern America, I think.

 

Didn't I see these systems in use on "Parking Wars" The PA Parking Authority uses it to scan the plates of parked cars.

And, while we are at it...has anyone seen the facial recognition systems used in airports yet?

 

So what do you think the policy will be on enforcing every "hit" the system gets. Is the officer required to pull over every tag or insurance violation?

 

No, but i have seen those machines they can see though your clothes with

 

I would hope so, otherwise what would be the point in investing so much money in these systems?

 

The official reason probably goes something like "So cops know stuff.":hsugh:

 

The one reason I feel this will fail is this: The cops should be visually watching out for the idiots, morons and retards that infest the roads of Atlanta. There are enough of them out there to overburden the best staffed municipality. There are simply not enough cops to keep up with current traffic violations let alone the additional burden/distraction of scanning every friggin' car that drives by. There are so many cops currently working traffic I don't know where they find the time to do actual none traffic crime oriented police work. One thing they could do in the Atlanta area and I assume this might be a state law is to require a valid license, green card, proof of citizenship and proof of insurance when your register your friggin vehicle. As it stands an illegal alien with no license and no insurance can register a vehicle, how retarded is that............?
I want the cops to be aware of the 4 ton navigator next to me with some idiot on the cell phone, GPS and entrainment systems blaring kids in the back seat unbuckled doing 20 over in the far right lane tailgating people and changing lanes with no warning. Harass them first then worry about the guy who's driving perfectly normal with expired tags.

 

Not exactly related but next cars will use g.p.s and on star technologies to notify law enforcement do they can mail you a speeding ticket and make them aware of any emissions violations..Again no problem for those of you who are law abiding citizens ,right...

 

Blah disable and unplug power supply.

 

This thread brings to my mind red-light cameras and automated speed traps..

 

Just wait until they get rid of the federal per gallon tax on gas and go with the mileage tax. Every car will be fitted wih a GPS unit so they can send you the bill. As a side benefit the government will know everywhere you go but again thats ok because your on a public road so you have no right to privacy in a public place.

a slippery sloppe indeed...

 

Dang yes a slippery slope. Does a mileage tax exist anywhere?

 

Some auto insurance companies are starting to offer a pay as you drive insurance. Basically you get a device that plugs into your ODBII port that monitors how you accelerate, stop, driving patterns etc... They say there is no GPS device built in, but I question that.

Too Much technology = Bad