To Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels, the installation of automatic license plate reader cameras has been revolutionary.
Flock Safety, a leading supplier of these cameras, brags that they’re used by over 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the country, and that Flock technology can go beyond simply recording a license plate. Many of their devices can also identify a car’s make, model, color, dents, roof racks, window stickers and even a dog in a truck bed. It’s a nightmare for privacy advocates, but a dream come true for a sheriff with a tight budget. Nowels said it’s saved hundreds of investigative hours, helped drive down auto thefts and made it easier to prosecute criminals.
“To replicate this with humans, I would have to have 70 people standing on the street 24/7 and they’d have to have perfect recall for everything they took a picture of for 30 days,” Nowels said. “It’s impossible.”…