South Portland police are ready to roll out a cruiser equipped with cameras able to recognize the license plate numbers of vehicles traveling the road or parked nearby, and store that information for 30 days.

The benefits of the new endeavor, to law enforcement and public safety, are clear and impressive. The cameras can pick up plate numbers faster and more accurately than the human eye, and those numbers can be instantaneously run against a national database that includes people considered dangerous, wanted, missing or endangered. The system could help police more easily track down stolen vehicles, or suspected drunk drivers. It gives officers another set of eyes, so to speak, as they patrol the city.

“We believe use of the (automated license plate recognition system) will allow us to better serve and protect our community, and will help our officers be better – and more quickly – informed of potentially dangerous situations,” South Portland police Lt. Frank Clark wrote in a letter last week to the state Legislature’s Transportation Committee, which is expected to hold a hearing next month on a bill to ban the cameras.

While the automated plate recognition system can certainly be an asset to police, the emerging technology should also give pause to those who cherish privacy as inherent to the American way of life.

Yes, license plates are by definition clearly displayed to the public, and officers have the right to run plate numbers at any time. But the system being deployed in South Portland could easily evolve into something far more chilling if the correct limitations and controls are not put in place.

One possible future for this technology can be seen in other states, where the automated recognition cameras are already commonplace. In Memphis, Tenn., police plan to have 73 camera-equipped cars by the end of the year, to go along with 37 more in fixed locations. An affluent community near San Francisco placed the high-tech cameras along the roads heading into town, as a way to track vehicles coming and going in the event of a crime. In North Carolina, there are plans to place cameras along bridges and highways, and store the information for up to a year in case authorities want to review the data.

The power of technology to quickly gather, process and analyze vast amounts of information has led to amazing advancements in how we respond to emergencies, coordinate air travel, manage the electrical grid and fight on the battlefield.

But the same technology, in the not-so-distant future, could easily be used to aggregate all the information produced as these cameras multiply. While we trust that police in South Portland, and elsewhere, have the best intentions, history – recent history – has shown that abuse of power is a frequent occurrence. It has also shown the stored information is never fully safe, and that the collection of information can easily be used against its stated purpose.

So before these cameras are placed on more police cruisers, and then on bridges and street corners, society should step back and think about where this is going. While it is noble and constructive to seek out new ways to improve public safety, these methods should not impede on a citizen’s ability to move freely, and out of the sight of potentially prying eyes.

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