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.

43 thoughts on “TX: Houston area police department scans license plates for registrants.

  • February 22, 2022

    Sounds to me like a tool intended for harrassment. 😒

    Reply
  • February 22, 2022

    OMG!!! Call the FBI, SWAT, National guard! Registered persons going to church is such a major cause of concern.
    and I supposed there’s no registered persons living in that chief’s jurisdiction because he either harassed them until they left, or he got the city council to ban them from living there.
    I would encourage any registered person who lawfully drives through his town and gets pulled over to hit him with the biggest lawsuit for unlawful detention.

    Reply
    • February 22, 2022

      Disgusted

      Wouldn’t it be funny if there was a registered person who was super rich. If that was me, everytime a property of any kind went on the market in that town, I would buy it until I was a majority property owner and then hold a vote to fire the Police chief LOL

      Reply
  • February 22, 2022

    The police chief doesn’t have a problem with a registrant going to church. I cannot imagine the level of harassment if he did. I think of the attitudes of some of the counties in Florida, Volusia, Flagler, and Brevard come to mind, and the likelihood that I’d be stopped because I was going to worship, or the grocery store.

    Reply
  • February 22, 2022

    But remember, being on the registry is not punishment.

    How can anyone with a semi-functioning brain, and I would assume most judges have at least that, not see that the registry is nothing but punishment.

    Reply
  • February 22, 2022

    “…. which criminal-offense categories trigger a hit.”
    Oh, so now just being registered is a criminal offense…. but FTR is also a criminal offense? 🤔
    I guess I forgot – there’s no winning if you’re a registrant! 😡

    Reply
  • February 22, 2022

    I have stated before that is happening in Florida too. I have been pulled over at least 5 times due to scanners. I went to my sons graduation from UCF and the UCF Police use license plate readers both on the patrol cars and also on some poles around the campus. I got pulled over and detained for 25 minutes even though I had permission to attend his ceremony.

    I have also been pulled over by readers in a few other places as well across the state.

    Reply
    • February 22, 2022

      These places need to be outed. We all need to be aware of who is targeting us for harassment. This behavior needs to be on the record and brought to the light.

      Reply

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