Police across the country have started using automatic cameras to read and take digital photographs of millions of car license plates to assist with crime solving, but they have also stored information on millions of innocent people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was reported by USA Today.
The information collected is mainly unrelated to any suspected crimes. Instead, it's a quickly growing trend that can easily lead to misuse and abuse, according to the ACLU.
The scanners are "in effect, government location tracking systems recording the movements of many millions of innocent Americans in huge databases," Catherine Crump, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said. Crump was the lead author of the report on the information collection.
There is little supervision or control over what's done with the information after it's collected, and it's usually collected without motorists realizing their locations were recorded.
"There is a way to track all Americans all the time, regardless of whether they're accused of any wrongdoing," Crump said, calling the scanners "the most widespread location tracking technology you've probably never heard of."
The report is based on information that has been collected from the Freedom of Information requests in 38 states and the District of Columbia that were placed a year ago.
There is a lack of standardized procedures for dealing with the information gained from the tracking devices.
The scanners are usually mounted on the rear fender, trunk or roof of police cars and parking enforcement vehicles, though some are also located on road signs, tollgates or bridges.
While this technology is rarely included in the larger debate on government surveillance, though a survey conducted in 2012 by the Police Executive Research Forum, a non-profit organization, found that 71 percent of police agencies now use them.
"Documents show that many police departments are storing - for long periods of time - huge numbers of records on scanned plates that do not return 'hits,'" according to the report.
Police say the devices help them find stolen vehicles and help solve cold cases, including homicides.
ACLU video about information collecting.
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