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License Plate Recognition System Used For Homeland Security Posted: 26 Aug 2009 12:49 AM PDT Is it a boon to public safety? Or a disturbing new chapter in the Brave New World of law enforcement? Depending on how it’s deployed, it could be either. A new Automated License Plate Recognition system is now in use in Lakewood: six cameras mounted on the roof of a “reader car” scanning license plates as it rides, feeding the data to a dashboard computer screen. An alert beeps when a vehicle the computer has flagged is spotted, and the officer then can initiate a motor vehicle stop. The system has been challenged in the courts, and its limited uses to date have passed constitutional muster. Nevertheless, it should give pause to anybody concerned about privacy rights and civil liberties. It needs to be monitored carefully. Ed Barocas, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, says the chief concern is what police do with the information they get during their patrols and how long that information is kept and stored. Lakewood Deputy Police Chief Frederick J. Capper said the state Attorney General’s Office makes those determinations. Unfortunately, it has yet to issue any guidelines, and a spokesman says it won’t do so until the State Police begin using the recognition systems — primarily as part of its anti-gang initiative — at some unspecified date. That’s hardly reassuring. Lakewood, one of the first local police departments in the state to use the technology, received a $30,000 federal grant for the system from the federal Department of Homeland Security and state Department of Homeland Security and Preparedness. Lakewood Police Chief Frederick Capper said counterterrorism is the primary purpose of the cameras. Lakewood has several sites deemed potential targets, including Kimball Medical Center and Beth Medrash Govoha, one of the world’s largest Orthodox institutions for Talmudic studies. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. License Plate Recognition System Used For Homeland Security

H1N1 Flu Serious Health Threat To U.S.- White House Posted: 26 Aug 2009 12:37 AM PDT The H1N1 flu poses a serious health threat to the United States, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said in a report released on Monday. “The report says the current strain ‘poses a serious health threat’ to the nation. The issue is not that the virus is more deadly than other flu strains, but rather that it is likely to infect more people than usual because it is a new strain against which few people have immunity,” the White House said. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. H1N1 Flu Serious Health Threat To U.S.- White House

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