License plate reader searches should require a warrant

Post by encoderer » Wed, Aug 12, 2026, 5:21 PM UTC

ffsm8 wrote: post #197

fluidcruft wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow that... posting a police officer in everyone's house is pretty much a Third and Fourth Amendment violation and not primarily constrained by finances.

Youre the one that made the intellectually dishonest argument that scale is about cost and efficiency while the discussion was about scale of the surveillance . from your point , nothing is cheaper and more efficient then mandating an app on all phones through which the governments can track everyone, and consequently whoever doesnt have it would be a criminal. it completely tracks from your argument . You may need t…

Post by cdrnsf » Wed, Aug 12, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #6

cmiles8 wrote: post #3

Either it needs a warrant or it’s fully open and people can start creating websites showing the movements of local politicians. This middle ground that municipalities try to carve out where it’s fully open to police without a warrant but not subject to FOIL laws doesn’t appear tenable for much longer. There’s been too many cases of police officers stalking exes, poking around the data for fun and such so it’s clear p…

I don't understand why a police cruiser can sit in a public space (or even a private one) and write down licence plates and descriptions of passers-by with pen and paper, or record everything around them with dashcams and bodycams for later use, but when it comes to cameras on a pole this would require a warrant. Going back through police officers' notes or cruiser dash cam videos and tracking a car's movements by it…

Post by thepryz » Wed, Aug 12, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #6

cmiles8 wrote: post #3

Either it needs a warrant or it’s fully open and people can start creating websites showing the movements of local politicians. This middle ground that municipalities try to carve out where it’s fully open to police without a warrant but not subject to FOIL laws doesn’t appear tenable for much longer. There’s been too many cases of police officers stalking exes, poking around the data for fun and such so it’s clear p…

I don't understand why a police cruiser can sit in a public space (or even a private one) and write down licence plates and descriptions of passers-by with pen and paper, or record everything around them with dashcams and bodycams for later use, but when it comes to cameras on a pole this would require a warrant. Going back through police officers' notes or cruiser dash cam videos and tracking a car's movements by it…

Post by duped » Wed, Aug 12, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

kspacewalk2 wrote: post #6

cmiles8 wrote: post #3

Either it needs a warrant or it’s fully open and people can start creating websites showing the movements of local politicians. This middle ground that municipalities try to carve out where it’s fully open to police without a warrant but not subject to FOIL laws doesn’t appear tenable for much longer. There’s been too many cases of police officers stalking exes, poking around the data for fun and such so it’s clear p…

I don't understand why a police cruiser can sit in a public space (or even a private one) and write down licence plates and descriptions of passers-by with pen and paper, or record everything around them with dashcams and bodycams for later use, but when it comes to cameras on a pole this would require a warrant. Going back through police officers' notes or cruiser dash cam videos and tracking a car's movements by it…

Post by TaLiTr » Wed, Aug 12, 2026, 5:37 PM UTC

veec_cas_tant wrote: post #115

smt88 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everybody knows how effective video footage is There's no evidence that mass video surveillance, Ring cameras, etc. are leading to higher clearance rates of serious crimes. > We have had cities in the USA with 10k+ cameras in public spaces for years now without much fanfare. And if the data from those cameras were processed to allow me to type someone's name into the search and then track their every movement, ther…

I have never heard anyone try and argue that video evidence is not effective. That’s a pretty big stretch. There is nothing reversed with Flock. There is a crime scene, they see who was entering or leaving and work from there. Without plate readers it takes a team of people many hours, that’s the difference. You can’t know who had anything to do with the crime without investigating, that’s the definition of the word!…