Police camera use puts focus on privacy in public
South Portland supports the police initiative. “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to be concerned about,” Harrison said. “If you are out there driving without a license or no insurance, I want you off the road.”
Bob Ryder, a retired police officer in South Portland, said automated license plate recognition is another tool to help officers do their job. “It will level the playing field for police officers’ safety,” he said.
The system, which cost more than $20,000, was purchased in the fall through a $113,000 grant to advance technology in the South Portland Police Department. Twenty-five to 28 other states use the technology.
Opponents compare it to traffic surveillance cameras. Last year, Governor John Baldacci signed a law that bars cities and towns from using photo enforcement to catch drivers breaking other traffic laws. Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, said the technology is part of a growing trend toward a surveillance society. “Just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should, from a public policy perspective,” Bellows said. “The surveillance system undermines our fundamental right to be left alone, free from government harassment or monitoring unless we are suspected of wrongdoing. This technology turns the presumption of innocence on its head by recording everyone’s public movement.”
In a statement Clark issued Friday opposing the legislation, he said the department’s use of technology has helped them to be more effective and efficient in their work, and has helped them save lives. “Surveillance is generally defined as the act of observing or monitoring individual groups,” Clark said in the statement. “The ALPR does not do this. It does not observe people. It does not monitor people. It does not track people or their associations. It does what many good police officers have done by hand for many years, but does it much more efficiently and effectively.”
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap met with South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins last summer after the department requested access to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ database for use with the cameras.
Police have access to driving records, registration records and titles. Dunlap said. They also can access a Web site that contains the names of drivers in their cities or towns whose licenses have been suspended. But South Portland wants more.
Clark said the department wants access to a database listing Maine’s most dangerous drivers. “The most appropriate use of the technology is to target drivers who have proven themselves to be a danger on the road,” Clark said. “We met with the MCLU and we feel very strongly there is a balance between the privacy concerns they are raising and the benefits this can provide.”
The department is finalizing its standard operating procedure for using the technology. As part of that, Clark and Lt. Todd Bernard are the only officers with access to the data. The department will store the information for thirty days.
Clark said an investigating officer can file a request with the chief to scan the data. The department will audit the system every thirty days to get a record of officers who request access to the data.
Bellows said that’s not enough. “An internal review is not sufficient for highly sensitive information like this,” she said. “The information about people’s daily movements could be used for a variety of harmful purposes.”
