This is some system...
It can tell who is driving the vehicle...
that should make catching vehicle theives easy..
maybe we need this system at banks and stores too....
Sorry...I was having a silly moment.... I realize it can only tell if the associated driver to the licence plate is licenced or not...

Sounds like an interesting tool for the police.

The only thing I have a question on is why would the photo go to a data base and take 90 days to be erased?

And without a future violation??....would that not in itself enter the plate into the data base?

Film em' all. Put cameras up on street corners like in England too. Privacy shmivacy. Videotape all the crooks and skallywags, n' then lock em'
up & throw away the key.

That sounds great until Honest Abe is the one in the photograph, maybe something appears in the picture that becomes suspicious or questionable ?

How about cops get back to real police work instead of dicking around with all these petty offences and gadgets, taking all the work out of policing ?

The crimes that really count are the ones we are concerned about. Nobody gives a goddamn about unlicenced drivers.

Did you catch the guy who's been killing women on Hwy 16 yet ? Or are you too busy with revenue collection ?

It's kept for ninety days to track where the heck all the government vehicles are. The vehicle position is then cross referenced to what the vehicle was supposed to be used for that day. Should make it way easy to fire someone the management or the the union doesn't like.

I think there is lots of potential. Business people claiming their vehicle is only used for business might have this challenged by the CRS if the CRS requests a search on a certain vehicle movement.

Lots of people are going to get caught, Hee Hee. Probably some of the people on here? Lets see some other great examples of what someone could use the information for. Loss of freedom means more control.

That is UN-Reasonable Mr. Reasonable Man.

Real police work should include cameras. Get it all on film, and then nobody can use their high priced lawyers to find a loophole in the system to get the crooks off scott free.

And by the way, Unlicensed drivers are just as much a menace as much as drug pushers, armed robbers and the like.

In the grand scheme of things, sure some crimes are 'worse', but when you look the other way on the little stuff, the slope gets slippery and things get out of hand.

Crack down on everything, film everyone that ventures into the high crime areas (as in England), lock up all the trouble makers, and as I stated earlier, throw away the key. Then idiots will start thinking twice about breaking into cars just to steal the change in the ashtray.

Wow, we all agree............

"We" do??????
;-)

Frankly, if you are thinking that more state control is what we are after, then this system is primitive compared to the technology available.

Do the same as some rental firms and trucking firms, put a GPS into each vehicle with the registration number as the electronic tag and track them all.

Just think of it, no more traffic police in cruisers. Since speeds can be monitored, tickets can be automatically issued and sent out to the registered owner. The system could even issue tickets for such things as following too closely, driving too slowly, etc.

So, if the 600 plates scanned is a good sample of the BC situation (it does not say where it was tested) then there are, on average, 0.9% stolen vehicles on the road, 0.7% prohibited vehicles, 2.5% unlicensed vehicles, and 5.9% vehicles with unlicensed drivers.

It is the last two which are of interest to me. I thought the colour of the decal was the quick visual indicator of that already. I wonder how that percentage compares to the percentage of vehicles stopped for that infraction at the moment.

The unlicensed driver is an intersting one as well for several reasons. One is that a definition is needed. I sometimes forget my wallet at home and, as a result would not have a license with me. I am pretty sure I am not the only one that happens to on occasion. If I were to get stopped in that situation, would I be unlicensed?

So my friend from Barry comes to town and borrows the car to go sightseeing, is stopped, and cannot produce a license. In fact, he tells me later he does not have a license any longer. So now I get stopped by the camera because the car is associated with an unlicensed driver. How often will that occur? If the police set up at the same high traffic locations which I frequent, and they set up there once a week or so, then it looks like I could be stopped around 12 times before the record, presumably, is erased.

This shows, first of all, why the record should not stay there forever since it will "gum" up the entire system if there is a significant frequency of similar cases. It also shows that basing actions such as stopping vehicles on lower degrees of certainty may be questionable.

There is a moral to that OWL....
don't lend out your car...
No one drives my car that way I don't get stopped or have a phone call asking me where my car is or why it is dong bad things in places it ought not to be...
It may not always be convenient but it sure makes me sleep easier at night.

The end result is 10 Vehicles had some sort of infraction, which means 590 vehicles were being driven by law abiding citizens, who had their plates scanned, and the information sent to a computer and held there for 90 days. When you extrapolate this number over a period of time it becomes mind boggling the number of vehicles and drivers that will be on file.

This is a classic case of individuals going about their daily business, and having the police, without their knowledge doing a criminal check on them and forwarding information on them to police computors without their knowledge. This is purely and simply an invasion of privacy, and I suggest illegal.

You can rest assured that it will be tested in court by the civil liberties people, and well it should be.

There is no need in this country to give the Police more and more power to arrest and detain people at the expense of our freedom of movement, which I might add **to those who shoot from the lip, and think little** is our right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Dont ever under any circumstances beleive that giving the Police the right to survail your every movement is good. This type of **BS** is big in Russia, Communist China, Nazi Germany, however we dont need it in this country. If you buy this latest crap, then you may as well have them install a camera in your home.

I agree 100% with Palopu. Although I think police work should definitely be monitored by camera, I do not think secrete background checks, profiling, and data collection is constitutional nor right in any free society.

This is almost as scary as the John Warner Defence Authorization Act of 2007 recently passed in the US authorizing Bush full control over all State reservist soldiers without state consent in a time of public disorder in an effective coup over the governors.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20061108/cm_ucru/ourlongnationalnightmarehasjustbegun

You guys go ahead and toot your horn about cameras everywhere, more police powers etc, etc.

There are a few things I can tell you for knowledge.

1) The more power you give to any person, the more they will run away with it.

2) There is a term in Project Management called "scope creep" which means things can run away in a hurry, but in small increments. Once this power or right is granted, there will be more and more and more, all in baby steps, and I guarantee that nobody will appreciate the final outcome or end result. Think it's a good idea ? How do you think these 3rd world dictatorships got off the ground ? How do you think they got started ? Think it happened over a 24 hour period ? A week ?

For anyone who thinks it's a great idea to walk all over the Cdn. Charter of Fights and Kingdoms, try going to the public library and read a book.

Did you folks know that the police can stop any vehicle at any time on a public roadway to check the operator's driver's license and vehicle registration? Just by obtaining the license plate of a vehicle,(without the knowledge of the driver, owner etc) a policeman can ascertain the identity of the registered owner, whether or not he is licensed, prohibited etc and whether or not the vehicle is stolen. This camera is an extension of tools that already exist to assist in locating these problem vehicles, drivers, etc. The information retrieved as a result of the license plate being read is from a database that has existed for years.It is not as if a driver's banking information and dental records are being collected here.If this tool helps in getting some of these idiots off the road(And P.G. has many). then I'm certainly okay with having my license plate scanned as I drive past a police car.

trollunderthebridge. The police can stop any vehicle at any time on a public roadway to check the operators drivers license and vehicle registration only if he has reason to beleive that this person has committed a crime, or is wanted for some crime. He cannot arbitrarily stop vehicles for inspections etc; just because he feels like it. Thats not to say they dont do it from time to time, but if you think about it for a minute people are usually stopped for speeding, or some other infractions.

In any event remember the old saying

**The road to Hell in paved with good intentions**

Police do not have the right to arbitrarily stop anyone, even roadblocks have strict guidelines for where and when and how often, and the vehicles are supposed to be checked randomly. To make a traffic stop, they require "Reasonable and Probable Grounds" to make a stop. That means, a licence plate not mounted properly, a light out, some conspicuous thing to warrant a stop.
Like I said, go to the library, take out a book.

Sec 73(1) of theThe Motor Vehicle Act states the following:

(1) A peace officer may require the driver of a motor vehicle to stop and the driver of a motor vehicle, when signalled or requested to stop by a peace officer who is readily identifiable as a peace officer, must immediately come to a safe stop.


The above gives the power of the police officer to stop any vehicle on a public roadway. The police officer may check the operator for a proper driver's license,proper vehicle registration, the mechanical fitness of the vehicle and the sobriety of the driver.

Sec 73(1)has shown to be justified under Sec 1 of the Charter as a reasonable limit and does not step over the line to an arbritary detention.

Have a read of the above sections if you have trouble falling asleep.Cheers.

Bottom line, folks. If and when they catch the bad guy...what's the penalty? Open custody? It is to laugh. Catch them, release them, and do it all over again. It is what is known in police circles as "job security".

Nice try Troll. Your splitting hairs on this one. We know that Police can stop drivers, etc., however this does not mean that they do not have to have a reason to do so. In other words they must have probable cause that an offence has been committed, such as mechanical problems, speeding, no seat belt, or suspicion of impaired driving etc; They cannot arbitrarily stop drivers whenever they chose and have them answer questions, unless they beleive that a crime or some type of infraction has taken place.

The exception to this rule is that they can stop people in a road block and check for impaired driving etc; and it was this roadblock issue that was allowed by supreme court, because it was considered to be a reasonable limit. (Road Blocks Only)

If the Officer in stopping you for any reason he is required to advise you as to why he is stopping you and then take the appropriate action, and if neccessary at that time you can ask for council to be present. He cannot stop you just because he feels like it.

If you think about it for a moment how many times have you been stopped for no reason? Everytime I have been stopped it was because of some infraction. I dont ever recall being stopped for no reason.

My point is that now they can get information on you from the computer without ever stopping you and without any probable cause that a crime has been committed, and this information will be on file for 90 days.

Im sure this issue will be argued by the Civil Liberties Union. If not then we get what we deserve.

If you are driving down the road in a lawful manner a policeman can stop your vehicle and request your driver's license and registration. They do not require as you say "Probable cause", to believe an offence has been committed. Stopping a vehicle strictly to check for a driver's license and registration has been deemed a reasonable act under the guise of Sec 1 of the Charter. What it boils down to is that the police can stop you anywhere on a public road to check your driver's license and registration.If something else appears fishy under the Criminal Code, Liquor Control act, Fish and Wildlife Act etc then they can act on that as well.