by Michael Gauthier
- License plate readers are taking to the sky as police departments are embracing drones.
- Motorola says 81% of police agencies in America have or are pursuing a drone program.
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation is raising awareness and calling for restrictions.
License plate readers are becoming increasingly common and generating a staggering amount of information about unsuspecting drivers. However, police are taking things to new heights both literally and figuratively.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), some departments have enlisted drones with automated license plate readers. They specifically pointed to the Flock Safety Aerodome, which bills itself as the “future of air support for public safety.”
Eyes in the Sky
However, Flock Safety’s Rahul Sidhu reportedly described it as a “flying LPR [License Plate Rader] camera” to law enforcement customers. This probably shouldn’t be too surprising as the company specializes in license plate readers as well as gunshot detection technology.
More: An Increasing Number Of U.S. Cities Are Using License Plate Reading Cameras
In fact, they boast that more than 5,000 law enforcement agencies use their license plate readers as well as over 6,000 communities and over 1,000 businesses. This gives them “billions of monthly plate reads,” making it the “largest fixed LPR network” in America. They’re now apparently looking to expand that network to the skies.
Flock Safety isn’t alone as Axon and Motorola Solutions have also embraced the idea of “drone as first responder.” The latter firm even noted “81% of police agencies in the U.S. currently have or are pursuing a drone program.”
The Privacy Question
This is raising privacy concerns as departments are scooping up billions of points of data about people who haven’t done anything wrong. The EFF added “LPRs routinely make mistakes, causing police to stop the wrong car and terrorize the driver.” They also noted police officers have abused law enforcement databases and used them to track people seeking an abortion across state lines.
That’s some scary stuff and the EFF called for communities to demand restrictions on how police use drones and license plate readers. They also called on government officials to become more aware as they could approve a drone program without realizing they also signed off on a flying license plate reader program as well.
