Policy —

Minneapolis police pushing for more license plate data privacy

Under Minnesota state law, all license plate reader data is public by default.

Cyrus Farivar - Nov 2, 2012 1:15 am UTC

Minneapolis maintains a massive database of license plate records.
Andrew Bain

A Minneapolis municipal committee is now advocating on behalf of local police for a change in Minnesota’s state law concerning the right to access data collected from license plate readers (LPRs). For now, the city maintains a massive database collected from its 11 LPR readers that hold each license plate number seen, along with the corresponding GPS location data, date, and time for the previous 90 days.

In a meeting Thursday, the Committee of the Whole Agenda heard discussions regarding a new proposal from the city police department that would restrict access to license plate reader records. Under the proposed rules, only the police would have access to the entire database, and a non-police individual would only be able to access the data that pertained to his or her car. Currently, a rather liberal open records state law known as the Data Practices Act makes all government data public by default. If approved by the Minneapolis city council, such changes could be put forward to the state legislature as soon as next year.

As we reported earlier this year, license plate readers are largely on an unchecked rise throughout the United States. Millions of new records are collected by law enforcement agencies on a daily basis, often with little oversight.

Pending requests for the entire 2.5 million record database

The new proposal comes after increased scrutiny over the practice in Minneapolis, after a local reporter managed to track the mayor’s movements in August 2012 by filing a request with the police.

"We do have a concern of the way the data could be used," Sgt. William Palmer, the public information officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, told Ars.

"I don't know that as of yet we've had a case where someone misused the information—but taking proactive steps to prevent a stalking case or a domestic violence case where a partner was able to figure out where their previous partner's vehicle was located is a concern to us."

He added that there were currently five requests—including from university researchers—pending for the entire database of 2.5 million records. Under the law, anyone, regardless of whether they’re a city or state resident, can file such a request. The department continues to get approximately four requests on individual plates per week.

One local privacy activist, Rich Neumeister, told Ars that he’s long been against the collection and 90-day retention period. But, he said, it should be all or nothing—either no one should have access to the data to begin with (not even the police), or it should be open for everyone to scrutinize.

"If it is public, people can see patterns, people can start asking questions, whatever it may be, of the mayor or anybody," he said. "If the state is going to keep it for a long period of time, I believe then the public has a right for public accountability and transparency."

Promoted Comments

hartemanArs Centurion
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Letting it all go public and have it be searchable by individual plates would be a huge problem. Crime rates would soar as cheaters would be hard pressed as to why they were on the other side of town when they were supposed to be in the third late meeting that week instead. Homicide and domestic violence rates would certainly go up because of this, as well as blackmail.

I know I would check the license plates of everyone I knew, just because I could and it may reveal interesting information. Here is a good example: 8 mile, which many may be familiar with, is the northern boundary of the city of Detroit. It is also 9 times out of 10 the line white suburbanites must cross when they go to pick up their heroin, which in my area is like a rampant plague. It is so well known that local police who spot white drivers crossing this boundary at night often times track them and try to catch them once they come north again and have crossed 8 mile. You could check that database and match the plates that appear to be from Oakland or Macomb county that cross it after dark, and be fairly certain they are in some way participating in the illegal drug trade. There are very few reasons white people cross that line after dark that don't involve this. I'm not being racist, I am telling you the truth.

You might think there wouldn't be a reason to blackmail these types, and you would be wrong. Many people you would not expect dabble in things like heroin and cocaine in both it's forms. I have known police, lawyers, and a judge who did this over the course of about a decade. Not to mention that some of the teenagers and young adults who go down there are children of important community figures. This is just one example of where blackmail would have an opportunity to increase.

Honestly, there is no good reason in my mind for this information to exist for anyone to be able to access, including law enforcement. The reasons I have provided for public restriction trump any other argument I can think of for it, and perhaps a 24 hour window can be argued for law enforcement, but outside of that, this seems like it would provide too much power to anyone willing to take the time to look into it. You can bet your bottom dollar criminals could and would use this to their advantage.

Edit- rogue letter "a"
Last edited by harteman on Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:56 am

217 posts | registered Aug 25, 2010
hartemanArs Centurion
jump to post

omgzilla wrote:
harteman wrote:

You think it would be wise to let criminals know where those vehicles are? What patterns they follow?

This isn't a real time information system. You need to submit a form that requires a plate number, time frame, and your identity to get the information. Criminals could easily get the same information just by tailing patrol cars, but they don't because the information isn't really that useful because cars don't take the same route every time they patrol an area.

First of all there is a database, I don't know if the FOIA applies, but 5 entities have already requested the entire thing. If someone or something can get it like that it can fall into the wrong hands.

Secondly, you would be surprised about how police are known to operate. I know for a fact from personal, shall we say, "adventures" of my youth that police, especially at night, operate with a clear pattern at certain times. Once you know for example that a squad car is going to be at X location at a certain time, then travel to Y location, it gives you the window you need for whatever nefarious deeds you are up to. This kind of information can aid in finding these patterns without as much time spent in the area you want to commit a crime, which is obviously a risk increase.

It still isn't wise to tail a police cruiser however. Police are not as stupid or as oblivious as they are often thought to be. It is their job to notice things out of the ordinary, and if they noticed you were in fact tailing them, be assured they will be stopping you at a minimum.

Then there is the fact that a smart criminal who wants to commit a crime will do it away from where he lives. Since he does not want to be seen and recognized in that area, and traveling to and from that area in itself would create a pattern of his own, using this as a way to reduce that is a valid option. The smart criminal would know that if he can use it, so can the police. This way you can be in, out, and on your way, even taking routes that you know if you were to be plate captured, that plate capture would be furthest from the scene, giving police even less to go on with this technology.

This theory might seem far-fetched to you, but I believe it could happen.

Edit- spelling

217 posts | registered Aug 25, 2010

Promoted Comments

hartemanArs Centurion
jump to post

Letting it all go public and have it be searchable by individual plates would be a huge problem. Crime rates would soar as cheaters would be hard pressed as to why they were on the other side of town when they were supposed to be in the third late meeting that week instead. Homicide and domestic violence rates would certainly go up because of this, as well as blackmail.

I know I would check the license plates of everyone I knew, just because I could and it may reveal interesting information. Here is a good example: 8 mile, which many may be familiar with, is the northern boundary of the city of Detroit. It is also 9 times out of 10 the line white suburbanites must cross when they go to pick up their heroin, which in my area is like a rampant plague. It is so well known that local police who spot white drivers crossing this boundary at night often times track them and try to catch them once they come north again and have crossed 8 mile. You could check that database and match the plates that appear to be from Oakland or Macomb county that cross it after dark, and be fairly certain they are in some way participating in the illegal drug trade. There are very few reasons white people cross that line after dark that don't involve this. I'm not being racist, I am telling you the truth.

You might think there wouldn't be a reason to blackmail these types, and you would be wrong. Many people you would not expect dabble in things like heroin and cocaine in both it's forms. I have known police, lawyers, and a judge who did this over the course of about a decade. Not to mention that some of the teenagers and young adults who go down there are children of important community figures. This is just one example of where blackmail would have an opportunity to increase.

Honestly, there is no good reason in my mind for this information to exist for anyone to be able to access, including law enforcement. The reasons I have provided for public restriction trump any other argument I can think of for it, and perhaps a 24 hour window can be argued for law enforcement, but outside of that, this seems like it would provide too much power to anyone willing to take the time to look into it. You can bet your bottom dollar criminals could and would use this to their advantage.

Edit- rogue letter "a"
Last edited by harteman on Fri Nov 02, 2012 1:56 am

217 posts | registered Aug 25, 2010
hartemanArs Centurion
jump to post

omgzilla wrote:
harteman wrote:

You think it would be wise to let criminals know where those vehicles are? What patterns they follow?

This isn't a real time information system. You need to submit a form that requires a plate number, time frame, and your identity to get the information. Criminals could easily get the same information just by tailing patrol cars, but they don't because the information isn't really that useful because cars don't take the same route every time they patrol an area.

First of all there is a database, I don't know if the FOIA applies, but 5 entities have already requested the entire thing. If someone or something can get it like that it can fall into the wrong hands.

Secondly, you would be surprised about how police are known to operate. I know for a fact from personal, shall we say, "adventures" of my youth that police, especially at night, operate with a clear pattern at certain times. Once you know for example that a squad car is going to be at X location at a certain time, then travel to Y location, it gives you the window you need for whatever nefarious deeds you are up to. This kind of information can aid in finding these patterns without as much time spent in the area you want to commit a crime, which is obviously a risk increase.

It still isn't wise to tail a police cruiser however. Police are not as stupid or as oblivious as they are often thought to be. It is their job to notice things out of the ordinary, and if they noticed you were in fact tailing them, be assured they will be stopping you at a minimum.

Then there is the fact that a smart criminal who wants to commit a crime will do it away from where he lives. Since he does not want to be seen and recognized in that area, and traveling to and from that area in itself would create a pattern of his own, using this as a way to reduce that is a valid option. The smart criminal would know that if he can use it, so can the police. This way you can be in, out, and on your way, even taking routes that you know if you were to be plate captured, that plate capture would be furthest from the scene, giving police even less to go on with this technology.

This theory might seem far-fetched to you, but I believe it could happen.

Edit- spelling

217 posts | registered Aug 25, 2010

Cyrus Farivar Cyrus is a former Senior Tech Policy Reporter at Ars Technica, and is also a radio producer and author. His latest book, Habeas Data, about the legal cases over the last 50 years that have had an outsized impact on surveillance and privacy law in America, is out now from Melville House. He is based in Oakland, California.

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