(Charlotte Observer) The American Civil Liberties Union in North Carolina has joined 37 other states in requesting information from law enforcement agencies on how they use automatic license plate readers to track and record people’s movements.
The ACLU in North Carolina said it made the request of 61 agencies, including the Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Huntersville police departments, and 10 other law enforcement agencies in the Charlotte region.
In addition, the national ACLU and its Massachusetts affiliate filed Freedom of Information Act requests to learn how the federal government funds the license plate reader expansion nationwide. The ACLU also asked the government how it uses the technology.
The automatic license plate readers are cameras, mounted on telephone poles and bridge supports, that snap a photo of every license plate that enters their field of view. In most cases, the photo includes a time and date, and the photos are added to a data base.
That information then provides a match for police officers who might be looking for specific license plate numbers.
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