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Sunday, March 22, 2015

Is This An Invasion Of Privacy?

Millions of people flock to Ocean City to enjoy a vacation here on the Shore. Some of the people coming here are greeted by the Police out of nowhere. That's because along the way the Maryland State Police and the Ocean City Police scan your license plates along the way and know if your tag is expired, if you have a warrant or even a stolen vehicle, they are going to catch you.

While some may claim this is an invasion of privacy, others will say driving a vehicle is a privilege and Law Enforcement has every right to do so. 

There's even a camera on the Rt. 50 & Rt. 90 Bridges that the Police randomly scan and run tag numbers to see if everything is kosher. 

You can GO HERE to see what Law Enforcement is calling success stories on these license plate readers.

Like it or not, you better be legal or the State Police will catch you well before you reach Ocean City or they'll find you in Ocean City. 

How do YOU feel about all of this?

52 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm glad they do it. I was behind someone yesterday who's tags expired in April 2012. I see this all the time. Just look at the tags in front of you at red lights. You'll be amazed how many are out of date.

Anonymous said...

I don't let my tags expire, I am not running from the law and don't steal the cars of others. Why should the ones breaking the law get away with it? I am totally for it!!

Anonymous said...

Cameras are a invasion of privacy. The cops need To do there jobs ie PATROL.

Anonymous said...

@9:17 am.

So, let's say that a child has been kidnapped and one of these LPR catches the vehicle that was reported with the kidnapped child... you'd be against this because it's an invasion of privacy? I'd almost guarantee that you're driving illegally.

Anonymous said...

@ 9:15 and 9:16 TWO WORDS

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

This is an outrage, I've spent 12k in OC staying here the past few months (look at my ip/host to confirm) and I'm about to pack my bags and fly somewhere else! No thanks to this over policed and overpriced craphole!

Thanks for this info!!

Anonymous said...

GET THEM OFF TH ROADS.

lmclain said...

Keep cheering, you idiots.
Soon, there will be photograph & fingerprint stations at the end of your driveway. Comply or don't drive. That will be the slogan.
Catching criminals is a great idea, but not by searching EVERYONE (overwhelmingly INNOCENT!!).
That's one of the reasons for the Constitution -- to draw the line as to where the government must stop.
Apparently, they don't recognize "stop". You are watched everywhere you go. Your movements are tracked and logged. Your picture is taken a dozen times a day and those pictures are stored. Forever.
ALL of your texts and calls are recorded and kept in storage. Drones fly at 40,00 feet and watch you. Trucks with X-ray devices drive through your neighborhood and scan you and your house for POSSIBLE crimes. Police use fake cell phone towers to intercept your calls. Property and cash (to the tune of about 6 BILLION (that's right - BILLION) dollars a year are TAKEN by police from citizens --- without charge or trial. Innocent citizens are stopped by armed men of the government to see IF they MIGHT be committing a crime. Feel any safer, yet??
And you STILL cheer like rabid college football fans.
HOW MUCH do they have to do before you wake up and say "ENOUGH!!" ??
I suppose you're waiting for the fingerprint station, huh? Or the train.
Keep cheering.

Anonymous said...

I see nothing wrong with this at all. More power to them.

Anonymous said...

I'm happy they have the cameras. Great system!

Anonymous said...

9:33, as you can see by the posts following yours, we have lots of sheeple that are either ignorant, or just too stupid to realize the significance of what you said.
it's all about safety, right?
these pro surveillance folks will be the first to cry foul when they are detained or harassed by police for no reason.
just take a look at the news and you will see the recent story of the elderly couple pulled over because of window tint, and then searched for drugs.
unfortunately, it's too late for our society. The liberal socialists have successfully dumbed us down to where the lunatics are now running the asylum.

Anonymous said...

I don't like it, but it's not an invasion of privacy. There is no expectation (or at least common sense should tell you) of privacy in public.

Anonymous said...

I have been traveling back and fourth to OC about 3 times a week lately and it amazes me just how many police are there.

I have yet to drive into OC and not see at least 2 or 3 people pulled over from West OC to 32nd St.

I have driven in and saw a State Trooper sitting just before the Rt. 50 Bridge. Then there is often an OC PD officer at the 7 Eleven just after you cross the bridge. Then you see them sitting in the parking lot of Jolly Roger, Often one sitting on the side of 28th St. and another at the 7 Eleven just past the pizza hut.

When you drive into OC I feel like I am entering communist Germany or something. Even though I am totally legal I just can't help but be supper paranoid from all the police presence.

I guess OC needs to keep a high level of police force to accommodate when the crowds pile in for the summer. They all then feed off of the locals during the winter months.

One other issue I suspect is that OC takes advantage of the fact that they are wrongly considered to have some of the highest crime rate in the state due to statistics not taking in consideration that the population explodes during the summer. With this high crime designation I suspect they get a lot of extra funding for law enforcement.

In either case OC certainly does not feel like a friendly town and seeing red and blue lights flashing with people pulled over constantly doesn't give you a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Anonymous said...

Imclain, you need counseling. Put your tin foil hat back on and take a nap.

Anonymous said...

Hitler would have loved this technology if it was around back in his day.

Anonymous said...

too much gummit!!! thanks sjd

Anonymous said...

We are all being watched all the time. All rights went out the door with the Patriot Act.

Anonymous said...

Not clear why this is causing an outrage. There's always the chance that that legally unlicensed vehicle is also uninsured. Would you want them hitting your car in a fender bender and leaving you to foot the bill. I don't see a problem with trying to get unlicensed, unregistered and potentially uninsured vehicles off the highway.

Anonymous said...

Tags are not owned, but rented from the state and are being operated on a public roadway. therefore you have NO expectation of privacy. MORE LPRS!

Anonymous said...

Driving IS a privilege, NOT a right. I have no problem with it.

Anonymous said...

Not sure it is an invasion of privacy since your tag is hanging on the outside of your car. What it is though is just another case of the police being invasive and going out of their way to fine people. Once again, they really need to change their motto from"to protect and serve" to "to catch and fine"

Anonymous said...

That's why I keep telling them lmclain
but these people are to damn stupid and we all know you can't fix STUPID!!!

What it will take to wake people up is this:

Once the drones are in full force being flown over amerika, and the police use these to record everything, and lets say a year or two goes by and someone finally saw the video, they will see the person giving another person an aspirin and then come and lock you up and say it was illegal drugs and an illegal transaction...

or better yet, when they get locked up for a crime they only thought about but not yet committed, maybe then they will wake up, but everyone wakes up when it is to late anyhow so basically the fat lady already sung...

And what these dumb asses don't know is there is software the fed govt has released and is being implemented everywhere, where it uses all cameras, even those LPR's and red light cameras to do facial and bio-metric recognition via your face and eyes...

Let these people run their mouths, and let them do as they please, soon they will need or want our help and we can dance and laugh at them, and say remember when you told me to go get my tin foil hat?

I will just get to tell them I told you so once more as i slap them in the face and say go get help else where...

I won't help anyone who helps the people who implement tyranny... you are one in the same...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think I am tired of reading about one of my basic freedoms to travel written up as a priviledge, sounds like lemmings talking!

lmclain said...

10:11...YOU go back to sleep, because that's what you have been apparently doing for 20 years. I'll bet you thought that was a really cute reply, all intellectually superior and such, huh??
Point out the errors in what I said.
When one cannot argue FACTS, name calling is the best way out, huh?
Factual information is NOT paranoia or tin-foil hat conspiracy stuff.
FAILING to recognize facts and reality IS, however, a recognized mental disorder. You need a doctor, son.
Refute what I said, if you have the mental capacity. Or.....
Get back to cheering.

Anonymous said...

Maryland law states an officer needs probable cause to run your tags. End of story! I don't know how you people are willing to applaud your rights being stripped for a small sense of security. This is by far not about catching dangerous criminals. But sheep are only focused on the ass in front of them.

Anonymous said...

A common practice of thieves stealing license tags is to replace yours with another (often expired) tag. The victim may go weeks before noticiting.

Anonymous said...

I don't mind them scanning the tags as long as they use it like an anonymous tip, not a fact. The scanners can be wrong. If it says there's a white corolla headed your way with expired tags check it and then stop them.

lmclain said...

9:37, 10:33, 10:48, and 11:29 are all caught up in the SMALL picture. Inch by inch, our privacy is invaded/eliminated/degraded, our rights are watered down or eliminated, and our lives more closely examined by strangers with the power to tear lives apart.
How did we go from a nation FOUNDED upon individual freedom and limited government to a nation of dependent, brainless and helpless people that NEED to be monitored and controlled by faceless Nazi's? Bureaucrats who, by the way, think its their JOB to make sure you live EXACTLY the way they want you to live and have the power to severely punish those who won't "comply".
Try to see the BIG picture, boys. Its not always about getting the bad guy, or making sure we're all "safe", or solving whatever particular tragedy you have encountered, or even whether or not you are "doing anything wrong".
Sometimes, its all about "that's none of your concern", or "I don't need your advice/help", or, the best one of all --- The Constitution says YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!
I really like that one, but unfortunately, today's politicians and their flunky armed enforcers can't even SPELL "Constitution".
You actually expect them to know something about it, too???
The BIG picture, boys, the big picture.

Anonymous said...

11:53 You are completely wrong. Officers need NOTHING to run you publicly rented, public information state registration plate.

Anonymous said...

What happens when you own a gun that is say fully automatic. Its in your rights. Then you drive and get pulled. Why you wonder? Then your pulled out of your vehicle at gun point in front of your family and put in the ground. Your family as well. Your wondering what is going on and ask only to be told shut up don't move. I'll tell you in a while. After an hour or so of this you find out that a cop had a tag reader and it shows your a registered gun owner of that fully automatic and they wanted to make sure you weren't traveling with it. Sounds like its OK right? There is a lot of criminals driving around with weapons right? Then most if you will say I'm crazy this won't and can't happen. But it has. Twice in a year right here in Maryland. A man never in trouble before, not even a ticket, had to endure a felony stop by a task force while his family helplessly endured the same. From a tag reader! All you people who have never done wrong.....this could happen to you just as easy!
Butthole

Anonymous said...

Oh by the way. No gun found in vehicle as the family was enroute to vacation. Just the fact he was registered as a gun owner tripped that tag reader. And yes the cops treated him and his family like they were terrorists.
Butthole

InvictusV said...

It is all about keeping the kids safe from terrorists..hahaha

From the website:


The mission of the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center is to serve as the focal point for federal, state, local, and [b]private sector partners[/b] in the collection, analysis, and dissemination of criminal and homeland security information within Maryland.

In furtherance of that mission, the primary goal of the LPR program is to collect and store vehicle license plate information in an effort to increase the detection of stolen vehicles, stolen tags, wanted and missing persons and aid criminal investigations and prosecutions of other crimes involving vehicles that impact the safety of Maryland's citizens.

Anonymous said...

The good done far outweighs any negatives, if the are in fact any negatives to this system.

Anonymous said...

Tag readers are searches without consent. Its a due rights issue, and not a privacy issue.

Anonymous said...

Tag readers are definitely not searches.

lmclain said...

2:02.
The big picture.
The "good" something does doesn't make it right.
It would be GOOD if Big Brother had camera's in your house. Domestic assaults, child abuse, drug use, and a host of other crimes would be lessened.
It would be GOOD if Big Brother could just set up roadblocks and make citizens submit to questioning and searches to see if there were any criminals out and about.
Wait. They already do that.
Ok, I was going to argue some Constitutional issues, but I guess you people have rendered that argument useless.
Keep cheering, but remember the adage, "be careful what you wish for....".

Anonymous said...

Then why is it that a cop better have a reason for using their numbers to log into the NCIC and State MVA's ? To document why they looked. That's why. If a coo is caught running a persons info for no reason they can get into a lot of trouble. It is exactly why police don't help get info on tags to friends when they ask. A cop won't risk his job for a friend but when it comes to his job he will violate your rights in a heart beat.

Anonymous said...

And you sir are one smart fellow! This is the wrong argument! This is most definitely a rights issue!

Anonymous said...

Watch citezenfour, this is nothing compared to the real invasion of privacy that happens and people don't realize.

Anonymous said...

good

Anonymous said...


It is a serious violation of the rights of all citizens. Period.

Please notice that the information scanned is being stored. Your whereabouts anytime you go past one of their scanners are being logged. Whether you're a boy scout or a thug.

Would it be defensible to scan for stolen plates, or cars registered to suspended drivers, if that information was immediately discarded and never stored if it didn't create a match? Possibly. Not a lawyer but sounds a lot more defensible since they could pull the offender over and find out without making suspects of all the innocent drivers.

Pretty good bet your EZ Pass is read anytime they set up a reader for them, too.

Educate yourself about the Constitution and what circumstances compelled the Founders to write the Bill of Rights for you and me and our heirs.

Human nature of tyrants and oligarchs hasn't changed, but their technology has.

Anonymous said...

Keep being on the lookout Imclain. They are out there and they are coming to get you.

Anonymous said...

You are out driving on public roads. There is no privacy there. If you want privacy, stay home.

Anonymous said...

"Keep being on the lookout Imclain. They are out there and they are coming to get you."

In their black helicopters!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Guess I'm missing something. What's the big deal?

And, if you respond, please don't reference 'sheeple', 'Big Brother', 'Nazis' or any of that other silly crap.

Anonymous said...

We shouldn't have to pay to register are cars first of all they should pay us to drive all the gas tax we pay.

Ben In Salisbury said...

Get hit by an uninsured driver once and tell me you don't like enforcement of the law. It's public so you can get photographed

Anonymous said...

Hey morons.....yeh most of you.....driving a car is a PRIVILEGE not a right.......if you follow the laws you dont have anything to worry about.....sit here and cry, complain, ect.....get over it fools.......

Anonymous said...

Obey they law and everything will be fine. Simple

Anonymous said...

I look at it this way - If it gets any cars off the road that either dont pay insurance or their tags go for it. Think of it this way you are involved in an accident and only have liability insurance and go figure the other driver doesnt have any insurance guess what you are SOL. You can take it to court and hope they show or hope they have a job to attach their wages but years after the fact, multiple court fees and lack of being able to get the money you are owed you give up. Either way you the tag and insurance paying person has lost out all the way around. The problem I have with this process is that they are only given a traffic citation and are allowed to drive away.

Anonymous said...

It keeps the good people safe and the bad ones (and tin foil hats) clamouring. THE END!

Anonymous said...

The person that posted about tag readers knowing your a gun owner or not is a complete liar.

Tag readers or LPRs look for the following

Stolen cars
Stolen tags
Suspended registered owners
Suspended tags
Repair order violations
Amber alerts etc.

Currently they do not look for expired tags.
As a victim of an uninsured suspended motorist in a crash, I love the tag readers. Law abiding citizens should not be concerned, law breakers should.

If you simply obey the law, you have nothing to worry about.

Anonymous said...

100% correct 10:17! I can't figure out why some idiots just don't get it. The only thing I can think of is they are either breaking the law or have a desire to do so.