New Jersey residents are divided over whether local police should use automated license plate readers, but majorities support requiring warrants to search the data, conducting more frequent audits and deleting information sooner, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released today.
Half of respondents oppose the use of automated license plate readers in their communities, including 30% who strongly oppose them. Forty-four percent support their use, including 15% who strongly support the technology, the statewide poll found.
Despite the divide over the cameras themselves, respondents broadly supported additional safeguards governing how police collect, access and retain the information.
Seventy-eight percent said they favor requiring police departments to audit license plate reader searches monthly rather than annually, while 15% oppose the proposal. Sixty-nine percent support requiring a warrant before police search the data, compared with 24% who oppose the requirement.
Two-thirds of respondents, or 66%, also support requiring police to delete the collected data after six months rather than the three years currently allowed. Twenty-three percent oppose the change.
Opinions were more closely divided on whether New Jersey police should be prohibited from sharing license plate reader data with law enforcement agencies in other states. Forty-eight percent support such a restriction, while 42% oppose it.
“New Jerseyans don’t agree on whether they want these cameras in their communities, but they largely agree on how they should be governed if they are there,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Automated license plate readers use cameras, often mounted on utility poles or police vehicles, to photograph passing vehicles and record their license plates, along with the time and location. The information can be stored in searchable databases that law enforcement agencies use in investigations.
Political affiliation was a major dividing line in the poll. Republicans were substantially more supportive of the technology, with 67% favoring its use, compared with 36% of Democrats and 40% of independents.
Republicans were also less likely to support certain restrictions. Fifty-two percent favor requiring warrants before police search the data, compared with 74% of Democrats and independents.
Age also influenced attitudes toward the cameras. Just 28% of residents ages 18 to 34 support their use, compared with 45% of those ages 35 to 49, 48% of those ages 50 to 64 and 55% of residents 65 and older.
Black residents expressed the lowest level of support for the technology, at 25%, compared with 49% of white residents and 45% of Hispanic residents.
Support for additional oversight extended across party lines. Independents were particularly supportive of monthly audits, with 85% favoring the requirement, compared with 75% of Democrats and 72% of Republicans.
The findings come as New Jersey lawmakers consider additional regulations governing law enforcement’s use of automated license plate readers. The Assembly Public Safety and Preparedness Committee recently held a hearing on legislation addressing the technology, including concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of collected data.
The poll surveyed 1,004 New Jersey adults from Sept. 24-27 through the probability-based Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
no
They should be able to read all plates with no data at all stored, however the police should be able to enter specific license plates into the system (the bad guys) and when the reader comes along it it should alert them. But they shouldn’t be reading every car that passes by them to the extent where the officers can see a name or registration etc.
There have been cases of officers or people acting on their behalf accessing ALPR data to stalk people, so I’m in favor of safeguards requiring warrants to pull data and regular audits of who is accessing data and for what purposes.
There have also been cases of people being charged incorrectly over inaccurate ALPR data. A Florida woman was charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident based on ALPR information even though her vehicle didn’t match witness descriptions and her vehicle showed none of the damage sustained by the hit and run vehicle. She was jailed for over a week before her attorney was allowed to present that evidence and get her released.