Despite Cuccinelli’s advice, N.Va. police still maintaining databases of license plates

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Cuccinelli was right.

Despite Cuccinelli’s advice, N.Va. police still maintaining databases of license plates
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/despite-cuccinellis-advice-nva-police-still-maintaining-databases-of-license-plates/2014/01/16/055ec09a-7e38-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html

By Tom Jackman, Published: January 16

Every day, police officers across Virginia scan the license plates of tens of thousands of vehicles and enter that information into their departments’ databases, hoping that it might help solve a crime.

But last year, then-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II issued a clear opinion about the use of license plate readers, which have become common across the country: If the information isn’t directly related to a criminal case, it “may not lawfully be collected.”

Virginia State Police quickly adopted a policy to purge the data within 24 hours, unless a crime was involved. But in Northern Virginia, police departments have decided to ignore Cuccinelli’s opinion. They maintain databases of the information — photos with the vehicle’s location at the time — and share them with other police departments in the Washington region.
....

Law enforcement officials say that the practice has become an essential tool in developing leads in terrorism investigations and criminal cases and that Cuccinelli’s opinion ties their hands. ... “If we were limited by the attorney general’s opinion in the future, the cost-benefit analysis wouldn’t be worth the investment,” said Arlington Police Chief Douglas Scott. “To simply use it only for a stolen-auto hit . . . kind of defeats the investigative purpose and opportunity to have something like that.”

911 changed everything, blah, blah, blah.

[catbyte]

1. That sounds pretty skeevy, too much like a expedition.

[bpj62]

2. Revenue

As someone who was raised in Arlington I can tell you with certainty that this issue is about one thing only and that is revenue. Arlington County Police officers routinely drive through private parking lots looking for expired tags and vehicle inspection stickers. This tool will help them locate those cars in the future. We pay a personal property tax in Virginia and we used to be required to have a sticker on the car that showed that the taxes had been paid. Most of the counties dropped the sticker requirement except for Arlington. The Police Department in Arlington is used as a tax collector by the Treasurer of the county.