A driver San Jose police were tracking in connection with a possible restraining-order violation wound up in custody yesterday after crashing in a residential neighborhood, authorities said. The vehicle was first flagged downtown by the city’s automated license-plate reader system, then tailed from above by a police helicopter until officers moved in on the ground. Police said the collision near 15th and East San Carlos streets was not the result of a pursuit.
The investigation began just before 4 PM, when officers were called about a possible restraining order violation and later learned the vehicle involved had been reported stolen, according to CBS News. “The collision was not a result of a police pursuit,” police said, as reported by the outlet. Authorities have not released the driver’s identity.
How Officers Tracked the Vehicle
According to CBS News, the city’s automated license-plate reader system picked up the car in downtown San Jose, and the police helicopter crew guided officers to the crash site. The San Jose Police Department’s Air Support Unit, known as AIR 3, regularly assists ground officers with stolen-vehicle recoveries and search operations, the San Jose Police Department notes on its website.
Privacy and Policing
San Jose’s use of automated license-plate readers and aerial surveillance highlights a broader shift toward high-tech policing tools to locate suspects and recover stolen cars. Civil-liberties advocates warn that ALPR systems can quietly generate detailed records of people’s movements and call for tight limits on how long that data is stored and who can access it, as noted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)…