San Francisco's Department of Parking and Traffic are testing a mounted camera that scans the license plates of parked cars and searches a database to identify vehicles with lots of unpaid tickets. When a match is made, the parking ticket crew locks on the boot. Apparently the system can scan at least 250 plats an hour. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
San Francisco isn't the first city to use the license-plate scanning technology. Oakland uses it to find stolen vehicles. San Francisco just added the stolen car data to its system last week.
The system isn't perfect. The cameras don't capture all license plates because some are tilted at the wrong angle or too dirty to read.
The cost of software and equipment for one of the specially outfitted Department of Parking and Traffic vehicles is about $92,000, (said James Lee, assistant director of enforcement for the Department of Parking and Traffic.)
Link (Thanks, Jason Tester!)
Previously on BB:
• License plate scanner will bust people with overdue library books Link
• License plate tracking for fun and profit Link
• School becomes surveillance state Link
