Utterly pointless

Hundreds of examples to choose from, but here is the one that came to mind first
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Docklands_bombing

Wasnt radioactive....just a regular truck with a 1/2 tonne of fertilizer based explosive inside.... but they DO have pictures of the truck

Sounds like they are setting up the infrastructure for a Congestion Charge Zone similar to the one we have in London.

All roads entering into the C-Zone in London have CCTV to record numberplates. So if you havent paid your C-Charge by the end of the day you get a pentaly ticket in the post

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge

They actually just tried to implement that this year, the state gov't in Albany nixed it.


Congestion Pricing Plan Dies in Albany

"ALBANY � Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg�s ambitious dream to remake New York City streets with an elaborate plan for congestion pricing died on Monday, after Democrats refused to put the bill to a public vote on the floor of the State Assembly.

Mayor Bloomberg denounced the decision, saying that this was �a sad day for New Yorkers and a sad day for New York City.� He said the plan would have cut traffic and pollution, spurred the economy and qualified the city for millions in federal funding." ><snip><

Exactly what I was thinking. London also has the "Ring of Steel", which is tied into the C-Zone system.

Even though Albany turned down the C-Zone, there is still a LOT of Federal pressure to put that kind of system in (along with privatizing/tolling roads).

Couple NY's system with the technology proposed for Virginia's HOT lanes, and you have the ability to track not only vehicle, but a lot more.

It does not PREVENT anything, but traditional US police mentality is not crime prevention, it is crime solving AFTER the event. Not just detectives, but uniformed patrols. Something happens, what is the first time the patrol car learns about it? When the radio announces "Holdup in progress at the NexttoLast National Bank." In progress. The crime is already done. From the first moment of their involvement, the police are solving a crime, not preventing anything. Only a totalitarian police state can attempt to prevent crimes. That is what the KGB and the STASI did for a living.

Just like TSA is fighting the last war (no shoe bombs, no boxcutters), which will not be the next war, now the NY police are doing the same. IIRC the only thing left of the Oklahoma City Ryder truck was the axle found a few blocks away, with a stamped serial number that could eventually trace the truck. Of course, in all the mess I am sure there were lots of vehicle parts, and it took a while to track them all and find which was the vital clue.

NY is spending all this money, so AFTER an Oklahoma City bombing happens there, the Detectives can "solve" it in an air conditioned room looking at video pictures, rather than getting their suits dusty looking for parts on the street. And identify the truck two days after it went boom, instead of two weeks after it went boom. Lazy tunnel vision police wasting tax dollars preparing to fight the last war is all this is. Like xyzzy said, the truck already went boom.

I'm eagerly awaiting an explanation from a law enforcement expert on how photographing a car license tag will somehow determine, in real time, the apparent risk that car or its occupants presents, as well as contribute in any possible measurable way, the likelihood that same car will present a greater risk in the future after passing the cameras multiple times.

Can this system catch the license plates on a pair of 767's?

Apparently it's legal for authorities to surreptitiously install a GPS tracking device on vehicles without warrant... Link here

I don't know which staggers or unfuriates me more - the fact that PDs are doing this without a warrant, or stupid judges are buying the 'it's just like following them' story and admitting the traces as evidence! Idiots!

I'd like to send these judges to a re-education camp where they can spend 18 hour stretches memorizing the US Constitution.

Are there any GPS 'detectors' out there - a device you can wave around your car to check for the presence of tracking antennas?

Ouch.

Didn't you hear? The TSA has taken care of aviation security. There's no chance of planes being used by evil doers anymore, so the rest of us are free to focus on other ridiculous efforts.

Adding insult to injury, if you detect the GPS device installed by the police and throw it away, you can be charged with theft of police property:

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/ho...ng-Center-fire
At least in this case they got a warrant, and of course this kid is a real moron who deserves several years in the slammer for destroying several businesses with his arson prank. But if the police install and essentially abandon a device on your car, you discover it, and you decide to dispose of it, I fail to see how that constitutes theft.

If he was smart, he should have attached it to the first parked cop car he found.

If they can't find their own tracking device, what good is it?

+1,000

It looks like the folks in and around DC want to tag along in a big way on the license plate reader idea: