Posted on 04/10/2025 10:40:48 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
When residents of a ritzy West L.A. neighborhood experienced an increase in burglaries last year, they decided to invest in technology to fight the problem.
The neighborhood association in Cheviot Hills — a community of million-dollar homes sandwiched between the 10 Freeway and Century City — raised more than $200,000 to purchase scores of controversial, high-tech cameras that scan license plates.
The automated plate readers, as they are known, enable authorities to track when vehicles of interest pass through certain intersections. The devices can also be mounted on police cars, allowing officers to sweep up troves of license plate data as they drive around. Police say the gadgets help investigate stolen cars, locate fugitives, and solve crimes by checking who came and went from a neighborhood on any given day.
But when the community donated the cameras to the Los Angeles Police Foundation — one of several nonprofits that support the Los Angeles Police Department — they sent them with strings attached: The police were only allowed to use them in Cheviot Hills.
In the months since, the act of charity has ignited discussions about who gets to decide how technology donated to the LAPD is deployed — and whether the data collected by the plate readers could be used for purposes far beyond the intended scope.
Critics have long warned about privacy concerns because the cameras track people without consent or a warrant, collecting data about law-abiding motorists that is stored up to five years.
Since its creation more than 25 years ago, the Los Angeles Police Foundation has funneled millions from mostly unnamed donors to the LAPD. Sometimes the money pays for holiday parties or exercise equipment, but it has also been used to acquire cutting-edge police equipment and technology not covered in the department’s annual multibillion-dollar budget.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It sounds racist.
If they don’t like the conditions, then don’t accept the donation.
200k is not a huge amount of $$$ for an entire community.
They should have setup a cloud admin and bypassed the “help” from LA
That would take neighborhood gossip to a new level.
They shouldn’t have donated the equipment, rather, installed it and managed it themselves and when a problem arose they can provide the video to the cops and to the public at large on X or one of those neighborhood apps. Like all these crazies who got caught carving swastikas on Teslas. The video went to the cops and straight to the internet. Many were caught as a result.
I can look at a car driving down my street and write down a description and the license plate, but I can’t take a picture of it? It’s bad if my Ring camera records people walking down both sides of the street and the frame includes the front doors of my neighbors across the street?
Will I have to position my security cameras so that the frame only contains my property and doesn’t have any of my neighbors’ property or the street in it?
“They should have setup a cloud admin and bypassed the “help” from LA”
Yep. Build their own cases and then hand them off to the DA with a bow tied on them.
I agree. That way residents can have control to help reduce, but probably not completely eliminate abuse.
You're have to be an unrestrained idiot to spend that much on a home in that area.
HOA taking it to the next level.
A gift with strings is not a gift.
“Critics have long warned about privacy concerns because the cameras track people without consent or a warrant,”
Public place, visible from a public place. No case.
Rich folks don’t want the plates of their party attendees taken at one of their Epstein parties.
Crime breeds no privacy.
So, if I make a donation to the local cops, can I request that my liscence plate won’t be recognized by FLOCK LPRs?
“LAPD Deputy Chief John McMahon has accused the Police Foundation of overstepping its bounds with the plate reader donation, according to sources who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation for speaking about internal department matters. McMahon objected to the limitations on where the cameras could be used, the sources said, and also took issue with the foundation pushing to buy the plate readers from a specific contractor, an Atlanta-based startup called Flock Safety.”
Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You want to pick the system and decide where to use it? Go buy it yourself.
You can. The police can't - unless they have a warrant.
It is if the strings are stated right up front.
“I’ll pay for your college, but not for any of the Humanities or for anything with “Studies” in the name.
Strings...but still a very nice gift.
Yes, the police can jot down a description, license plate, or even take a photo of a car they can see from anywhere on public property.
No warrant needed for that.
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