Philadelphia council members call on state to ban or regulate automatic license plate readers
PHILADELPHIA —
A controversial camera program is raising questions about whether safety comes at a cost.
The automatic license plate readers can track cars and store license plate information.
Now they’re the target of Philadelphia City Council members, who have approved a resolution calling on the state to either ban or regulate the cameras, according to CBS.
Police departments across the country use automatic license plate readers, many of them from a company called Flock.
That company has faced criticism after reports across the nation that police officers have misused the data.
Philadelphia police say the department does not use Flock but confirmed it has 137 automatic license plate readers placed across the city.
Pennsylvania State Police and Temple police did not respond to CBS’s request for comment.
In response to the criticism, a spokesperson with Flock told CBS that a blanket ban would take a proven investigative tool away from communities and officers who rely on it.