Oklahoma lawmaker raises questions about warrantless license plate scanner tracking
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) — Police rely on license plate scanners to capture criminals, but it’s a crime fighting tool at least one Oklahoma lawmaker believes goes too far.
State representative tom Gann said he has two main concerns when it comes to license plate scanner tracking.
“Where is the data and who has access,” said Gann.
This comes after a bill aimed to broaden the surveillance camera activity faced an overwhelming defeat in the senate on Thursday.
“It was right to slow this down and to stop and say, hey, what are we doing here?” said Gann.
Gann said he’s against people being tracked all the time and questions where the data goes.
“It can be downloaded offsite, it can be downloaded in a different state. We just don’t know,” said Gann.
According to Oklahoma City Police, the data is entered into a national crime database system.
Officers use the scanners to catch criminals wanted for a handful of reasons.
“Mostly violent fleeing felons on the run or missing persons,” said Dillon Quirk with the Oklahoma City Police Department. “They’re equipped in all of our police vehicles and so they’re utilized quite frequently.”
Although lawmakers may not fully agree with the technology, one of Nashville’s most wanted men is now locked up here in Oklahoma.
Police credit a license plate recognition camera alerted authorities that he was in our state.
Gann said he understands how the scanners play a vital role for law enforcement– but wants to make sure Oklahoman’s maintain their privacy.
“We are pro law enforcement and I think if we have an overreliance of surveillance cameras and this data I’m not sure we’re getting what we really bargained for,” added Gann.
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