Palatine police adding controversial camera system
Joining a growing number of law enforcement agencies across the U.S., the Palatine Police Department will be deploying an automated license plate recognition system on one of its squad cars. It will scan plates and check them against village, school district and state databases.
The camera will allow officers to learn quickly whether cars are parked illegally or even stolen.
Palatine isn't alone in adopting the technology.
According to an American Civil Liberties Union report, "You Are Being Tracked," one major license plate reader manufacturer, ELSAG, says its cameras are operating in nearly 1,200 agencies in 50 states.
Another manufacturer, PIPS Technology, claims that it has deployed 20,000 machines to agencies worldwide.
Mount Prospect Village Manager Mike Cassady said his village has the money to buy the cameras in the 2018 budget.
"It is very helpful technology, not only to policing but doing traffic studies as well," Cassady said
Palatine Police Chief Alan Stoeckel told the Palatine village council that the cameras can dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes for an officer to determine if a car is parked where it shouldn't be.
Stoeckel said the department will load parking permit information from the village as well as from both local high schools into the system. The camera will check the license plates it reads against the database information.
"Instead of having an officer walking by and checking every car, they can drive right through and be done in a matter of minutes," Stoeckel said.
Stoeckel said the department also plans to use a state database that contains the license plates of stolen cars.
License plate recognition systems have drawn criticism, in part because of the vast amount of data the systems collect and how the information can be used.
Councilman Tim Millar asked Stoeckel how the police department will protect the privacy of Palatine residents. Stoeckel replied that police will follow current best practices. According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, those include keeping the data captured by scanners entirely anonymous, allowing officers to identify the registered owner of a vehicle only through a separate, secure state government database, which is restricted, controlled and audited.
The question of how long departments are allowed to keep information collected by the system is being discussed in Springfield, he added.
The council voted unanimously to approve the police department's purchase of one license plate recognition system, as well as the wiring and brackets needed. The purchase will cost $73,018, and the money will come from money acquired through seizures of property involved in a crime.