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Posted on 10/03/2016 6:01:25 AM PDT by KeyLargo
U.S.
Gun-Show Customers’ License Plates Come Under Scrutiny Federal agents enlisted local police to scan cars’ plates at shows’ parking lots
By Devlin Barrett Oct. 2, 2016 7:35 p.m. ET
Federal agents have persuaded police officers to scan license plates to gather information about gun-show customers, government emails show, raising questions about how officials monitor constitutionally protected activity.
Emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show agents with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency crafted a plan in 2010 to use license-plate readers—devices that record the plate numbers of all passing cars—at gun shows in Southern California, including one in Del Mar, not far from the Mexican border.
Agents then compared that information to cars that crossed the border, hoping to find gun smugglers, according to the documents and interviews with law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation.
The investigative tactic concerns privacy and guns-rights advocates, who call it an invasion of privacy. The law-enforcement officials say it is an important and legal tool for pursuing dangerous, hard-to-track illegal activity.
There is no indication the gun-show surveillance led to any arrests or investigative leads, but the officials didn’t rule out that such surveillance may have happened elsewhere. The agency has no written policy on its use of license-plate readers and could engage in similar surveillance in the future, they said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Dear Mr. Security Agent:
https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/bracken-dear-mr-security-agent/
Police investigations today....if a computer doesn’t do it, it ain’t gonna get done.
Hey Key:
Got a slavage operation for you, soemwhere, within 1 NautMile of the Chicago Water intake in Lake Michigan, my firearms fell overboard due to a storm swell.
If you can find them, they are in about 400-feet of water since, say, 1992.
That reminds me, I need to renew my FOID this year...even tho I live in Texas.
I wonder which one that guy has had longer, that Mauser or the Members Only jacket?
Japanese Type 99
Yeah, I couldn’t ID the bolt action. It wasn’t a 1903 Springfield, and I couldn’t confirm a Mauser, but since there were so many variations, I took a stab at it.
But you’re right, I can see the oversized receiver for the dust cover.
Funny what we devote our few brain cells too isn’t it? ;)
Coming soon to a church parking lot near you.
VIDEO REPORT:
VocDocs: Surveillance Nation
Published on Aug 4, 2016
Behind the scenes of law enforcement, states relies on “fusion centers”—centers where police, FBI agents, jails, and others trade information to better catch criminals. But as fusion centers adopt controversial technology like license plate readers and facial recognition software, how much police intelligence is too much? We traveled to the West Virginia Intelligence Fusion Center to find out.
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UiuAZ3YloI
“Agents then compared that information to cars that crossed the border, hoping to find gun smugglers, according to the documents and interviews with law-enforcement officials with knowledge of the operation. “
The ATF would have just ordered them to be let go for Fast and Furious.s
I saw this happening at a gun show a year ago.
Now you know how the FBI and ATF Identified the Mexican Gang Members they wanted to smuggle Weapons back to Mehico under what was later called Fast and Furious.
See the Feds. aint stupid. /s
Sad, really sad and tragic ‘accident’ you had................
Thanks, Sir — great read and spot on as usual!
Hoss
Where’s J. EDGAR when You need Him?
Related from a surprising source, too:
Free Future
DEA Planned to Monitor Gun Show Attendees With License Plate Readers, New Emails Reveal
Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
& Bennett Stein, ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
January 27, 2015 |
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives collaborated on plans to monitor gun show attendees using automatic license plate readers, according to a newly disclosed DEA email obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act.
The April 2009 email states that “DEA Phoenix Division Office is working closely with ATF on attacking the guns going to [redacted] and the gun shows, to include programs/operation with LPRs at the gun shows.” The government redacted the rest of the email, but when we received this document we concluded that these agencies used license plate readers to collect information about law-abiding citizens attending gun shows. An automatic license plate reader cannot distinguish between people transporting illegal guns and those transporting legal guns, or no guns at all; it only documents the presence of any car driving to the event. Mere attendance at a gun show, it appeared, would have been enough to have one’s presence noted in a DEA database.
Responding to inquiries about the document, the DEA said that the monitoring of gun shows was merely a proposal and was never implemented. We were certainly glad to hear them say this, as we had rationally, based on the scrap of information left unredacted in the document, concluded that gun show monitoring was underway. After all, this would not be the first time that the government has used automatic license plate readers to target the constitutionally protected right to assemble. In 2009, the Virginia State Police, in collaboration with the Secret Service, recorded the license plates of vehicles attending President Obama’s inauguration, as well as campaign rallies for Obama and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. And unfortunately our security agencies — yesterday and today — have shown a pattern of engaging in systematic surveillance of peaceful assembly.
The DEA’s statement alleviates some concerns, but if the program was cancelled, why didn’t we get any documents reflecting that decision in response to our FOIA request? The agency should now release such documents, and also create and release a written policy that it will not target First Amendment-protected activity in the future.
While in general we have not opposed the use of ALPRs for their stated purpose of checking plates against “hot lists” of known or suspected lawbreakers — provided the data on everyone else is not retained — we have serious concerns about using the technology in a way that is specifically targeted at people exercising their constitutionally protected rights.
In 2012, the ACLU filed public records requests in 38 states and Washington, D.C. seeking information about the use of automatic license plate readers. Our July 2013 report, You Are Being Tracked, summarized our findings. But the ACLU also filed FOIA requests with federal agencies, including the DEA.
Automatic license plate readers must not be used to collect information on lawful activity — whether it be peacefully assembling for lawful purposes, or driving on the nation’s highways. Without strong regulations and greater transparency, this new technology will only increase the threat of illegitimate government surveillance.
Tags
National Security Privacy & Technology Privacy and Surveillance Location Tracking Automatic License Plate Readers Mass Incarceration The War on Drugs Drug Laws
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Bullseye writing, as always!
Thank you for posting this.
Every gov’t employee needs to read and understand not crossing the line against the 44% of Americans who are firearm owners.
Your comments regarding the FBI are seriously concerning in light of the recent ‘farce’ investigation of ‘too big to jail’ Hillary where the Director violated his oath in a major way & has made a mockery of the rule of law in trying to defend the indefensible. Joe diGenova actually called him a “dirty cop”. Both the DOJ and FBI have been corrupted & other agencies ‘weaponized’ .... the 2nd American Revolution (our own government vs we the people) is on the horizon.
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