TX: Houston area police department scans license plates for registrants.
This is a concerning story out of Texas. The Memorial Villages Police Department, like many other municipalities, has installed license plate scanners to flag vehicles that travel through their city. Instead of just using the scanners to search for active warrants, stolen vehicles or amber alerts, they use it to flag registrant’s vehicles.
According to this article, Agencies choose which criminal-offense categories trigger a hit.
In addition to stolen vehicles and missing persons, the Memorial Villages Police Department is alerted each time a registered sex offender drives past their cameras. “For the month of December, I had five sex offenders come through the Villages,” Police Chief Schultz said. Because the chief said there are no registered sex offenders living in the villages – he took a closer look. “I was getting hits, but only on Sundays,” he said. “It was someone coming here to go to church.”
It’s pretty sad that this status automatically puts us on a “suspect list” that requires investigation.
The registration scheme is, indeed, government sponsored hate.
This is a openly and blatant abuse of technology. This is just an extension – and continuation – of the electronic stalking that the registry egregiously functions as.
And of course LEOs will defend this so-called “initiative” as being “PrOaCtIvE.” Yeah. Right. Sure..
I think local registrants’ spouses and children should stage a convoy through that town past the license plate reader. Obey all laws, no honking, shouting or other disturbance, just driving. Streets and highways are open to the public. A few hundred notifications in a day might get the attention of even the most block-headed sheriff. That couldn’t even be considered as civil disobedience, but rather as “civil obedience.”
What would be the legal and public relations implications of LE stopping registrants’ families without probable cause, or the villiage passing an ordinance prohibiting registered vehicles from entering the town? Depriving a fundamental liberty due to registration status? Hmmmmm.
Another candidate to be added to the Phase 3 Media Project.
Sadly this is also done in North Florida. Especially Cities that have alot of revenue from tourism. Since Hurricane Michael in 2018, there are thousands of cameras & or licenses plate scanners being added to neighborhoods and even county roads. Absolutely ridiculous 🙄
Anonymous
I forget the name of the movie, but a few years back there was a movie where there were cameras everywhere you went watching every single person. If you did something wrong, police would show up within minutes and take you into custody.
It is funny though, that they can watch us all but when we ask to see traffic cams or other proof that would help us to either prove our innocence or to identify a suspect who committed a crime against us, suddenly the cameras are offline or being serviced.