Is this a valuable crime-fighting tool or an invasion of privacy?
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology is nothing new and helps law enforcement officials search for vehicles connected to crimes or known criminals. However, a new report from Forbes details an Artificial Intelligence system that goes one step further, analyzing the “suspicious” movements of vehicles and registrations.
In March 2022, David Zayas drove his grey-colored Chevrolet down Hutchinson River Parkway in Scarsdale, New York. There was nothing remarkable about the car or the journey, but the AI tech used by the Westchester County Police Department deemed the vehicle suspicious.
By searching through a database containing no less than 1.6 billion license plates, the AI calculated that Zayas was taking a route favored by drug traffickers. While this could be a coincidence, a Department of Justice prosecutor filing later showed Zayas' Chevy followed this route to Massachusetts nine times between October 2020 and August 2021.
Using only AI prediction, law enforcement officials performed a traffic stop and searched the vehicle. Zayas' car contained 112 grams of cocaine, $34,000 in cash, and a semiautomatic weapon.
But how extensive is the AI-based system that led police to the grey Chevrolet? More information about this has come to light thanks to the accused's lawyer, Ben Gold. After filing a Freedom Of Information request with Westchester Police, Gold learned the crime-fighting AI was scanning more than 16 million license plates weekly, with 480 cameras doing the work.
434 of these cameras are fixed (attached to infrastructure), while the rest were fitted to police vehicles. And it's not just license plates that pique the AI's interest. As per the report, it records the vehicle's make, model, and even color.
In a motion to suppress the evidence, Gold described it as “dragnet surveillance” and said it amounts to an “unprecedented search.”
“This is the specter of modern surveillance that the Fourth Amendment must guard against,” he added. “This is the systematic development and deployment of a vast surveillance network that invades society's reasonable expectation of privacy. With no judicial oversight, this type of system operates at the caprice of every officer with access to it.”
Zayas pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges a year after he was pulled over, but his lawyer is fighting against it.
Personal feelings aside, the idea of an ever-growing AI-powered camera network that can analyze our patterns and record vehicle details is worrying. And according to experts, this is just the beginning. The Westchester Police Department's system was built by a company known as Rekor.
According to government data analyzed by Forbes, the company has sold its tech to 23 local governments and police agencies nationwide.
Rekor sells its software not just to government entities but to private individuals too. Fast-food restaurants, for example, are using the tech to tailor discounts for customers who use the drive-through regularly. The software can be used in existing cameras, making installation easy in existing setups.
Brett Max Kauffman, a senior staff attorney at ACLU, told Forbes, “You've seen the systems totally metastasize to the point that the capabilities of a local police department would really shock most people. This is just the beginning of the applications of this technology.” He described this form of monitoring citizens as “quite horrifying.”
While Rekor did not respond to the publication's request for comment, an industry specialist named Matt Hill, who sold his company to Rekor in 2019, said the network of AI-based cameras is probably growing stronger. “I'm fairly sure there would be more cameras in more states now… It would be fairly large,” he remarked.
Rekor isn't the only company offering this service. A slew of rival companies have popped up in recent years, making the space all the more competitive. With profit on their minds, these companies target law enforcement and private businesses with the technology.
“Given the vast nature of the ALPR network and the need to travel public highways to engage in modern life […] avoiding ALPR surveillance is both unfeasible, if impossible,” concluded Gold in his motion to suppress.
This AI-based camera technology seems to spread across the country like wildfire, potentially jeopardizing the rights and privacy of innocent citizens across America.
On a lighter note, those wanting to evade this Skynet-like device may have to think out of the box. Last year, we reported on the curious case of two suspected criminals who had fitted their Mercedes C-Class with a license plate flipper.
Keyword: New York Police's Camera-Based Artificial Intelligence Vehicle Monitoring System Bound To Spark Outrage