Virginia Towns Using Federally-Funded License Plate Readers To Collect Local Taxes
from the thanks-for-the-exploitable-tech,-US-citizens! dept
Two things remain certain in life: death... and law enforcement agencies using license plate readers obtained with Homeland Security grants for purposes not even remotely related to securing the homeland.
Here's how Newport News, Virginia's police department obtained its automatic license plate readers:
Grant money from a terrorism prevention program of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the Virginia Department of Emergency Management provided the funding for automatic license plate readers for several Hampton Roads agencies, including Newport News, Suffolk, Norfolk, Williamsburg, James City County, York-Poquoson and Isle of Wight, said Laura Southard, public outreach coordinator for the state's emergency management department.And here's what it's doing with them:
Hampton Roads law enforcement departments received $869,000 in 2009, $357,000 in 2010 and $143,000 in 2011 for license plate readers, Southard said.
Delinquent taxpayers in Newport News could have their vehicles impounded if new cameras snap a photo of their license plates around town.The terms "terrorism" and "drug enforcement" were likely thrown around during the application process, but the end result is the city viewing law enforcement technology as just another revenue generator. A "hit" from the ALPR will result in the vehicle being towed within three days if the delinquent taxes aren't paid off or a payment plan set up.
In an attempt to claim the nearly $4 million in delinquent personal property taxes owed, the city will soon begin using license plate scanners to find vehicles on which more than $200 in personal property taxes are owed.
The cameras will be mounted to the backs of six sheriff's department cruisers to automatically read license plate numbers. Those numbers will be cross-searched with a database updated daily of all the license plates in the city with more than $200 in personal property taxes owed, Treasurer Marty Eubank said.
While the city has every right to pursue delinquent taxes, it has no business re-purposing federally-purchased law enforcement technology to do so. Citizens concerned about ALPR databases housing millions of non-hit records have always been assured that this technology will be used to fight the baddest of the bad: drug dealers, terrorists, auto thieves, kidnappers, etc. But now it's being used to collect back taxes -- hardly the sort of thing Homeland Security funds should be used for.
Things get even more petty a little down the road in Hampton, Virginia. While Newport News' enforcement efforts don't kick in unless more than $200 is owed, Hampton is all about the Lincolns.
Hampton has one camera mounted to a city minivan, not a police vehicle, which is driven around town every week day, said Dave Ellis, field compliance supervisor in the Hampton Treasurer's Office. When field investigators find a vehicle with a license plate for which more than $5 in property taxes is owed, they first place a warning sticker on the vehicle telling the owner to make contact with the city. If there is no response from the owner after about a week, the investigators go back and remove the license plates or put on a wheel lock, Ellis said.Hampton's tax-collecting ALPRs were first deployed in 2008. It's left unclear how the usually "law enforcement-only" technology ended up in the city's hands, but most likely a Memorandum of Understanding allowed the transfer of the plate readers. To date, $1.4 million in federal funds have been dispersed to pay for law enforcement's ALPRs -- and now some of them are being used to track down $5 property tax deadbeats.
Isle of Wight doesn't even bother doing its own tax collection efforts. According to the article, this is outsourced to a private company with its own plate readers, meaning there's next to zero accountability. Turning a city job private keeps records related to tax collection efforts a little further away from curious constituents and their Freedom of Information requests.
Not that the Hampton Roads law enforcement network is too concerned about overstepping its bounds or potentially violating constitutional rights. As was covered here late last year, these same law enforcement agencies have built their own phone record database -- filled with data obtained from subpoenas, warrants and court orders -- which is shared between the multiple agencies with no apparent oversight.
Once you get past the re-purposing of federal funds for local tax collection, you arrive at the question of cost effectiveness. Hampton sends its city vehicle out every weekday to troll for plates. On top of the paycheck handed out to the driver(s), there's fuel and vehicle wear-and-tear costs to be considered, along with whatever's being paid to maintain the technology and its database. And yet, it seems satisfied to have collected $60,000 in unpaid taxes last year -- seemingly "break even" at best.
The bottom line is this: if you want to use ALPRs to catch delinquent taxpayers, then be upfront about this and use local funds to purchase the equipment. Don't simply use the technology because it's there. Using federally-funded plate readers is basically asking the rest of the US to fund your local tax collection efforts. And just like when law enforcement deploys these readers, there should be explicit, public information about how the data is collected, retained and destroyed. Sure, law enforcement agencies have been less than open about these factors, but at least they have the (poor) excuse that there are means and methods to protect. The cities doing this don't have anything to protect -- at least nothing that would (supposedly) threaten public safety if it were made known.
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Filed Under: alpr, license plate readers, privacy, taxes, terrorism, virginia
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Remember kids
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Headline
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The "rest of the US" funds practically the entire economy of the town of Newport News, which as a major hub of the military-industrial complex, depends on Federal contracts for its very existence.
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Have to admit this doesn't bother me
I admit to not liking the nanny/babysitter/fascist state much at all, but this to me is not a unacceptable use of ALPR technology. Probably more effective that the process of foreclosure, etc.
Now I will admit the caveat that the involved government agency use some kind of common sense way to collect once they've ID'd the person/car/location. Impounding a 1500$ car on a 300$ tax bill costing a working person a job that would have paid more in return to the economy is the issue. Never seen most governments do an intelligent job in this kind of situation, that worries me much more.
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Re: Have to admit this doesn't bother me
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Re:
> money and back interest -- when the taxpayer
> comes in to get their tags renewed they need to
> use "valuable" LEO time
I suspect these taxes are city/county property taxes, not state DMV registration fees, and as such won't show up in the state computers when the person renews their tags.
When I lived in Virginia, not only did I have to pay my state DMV registration fee, but my county assessed a vehicle property tax on top of it. You had to go into the county office and pay for a special window sticker that proved you'd paid your yearly county vehicle tax.
I drew the line when my city decided it didn't have enough money to spend and added a *third* vehicle tax on top of the other two. Since I was only going to be living in Virginia for two more years, I just ignored it and figured I'd deal with the consequences if they happened to nail me during that time. I knew the odds were slim that they would (and they never did) because I lived in a high-rise with a secure garage and my car spent 90% of its time off city streets and away from the eyes of the enforcers.
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Take their things so they can't repay.
Throw them in jail for being unable to pay debt.
Profit!
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What magic is this
Do you have to register your plates when you own property, or do they assume if the address for the vehicle is the same as a delinquent property, they're linked? If you're renting a property, could your vehicle be clamped or seized if your landlord owes property taxes?
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Re: What magic is this
Many places where you live close to state lines, find that their citizens are buying their car plate tags in other states where it may be much cheaper on the taxes. So now they require as part of the info that you state your driver's license number as well as your vehicle plate tag number.
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Re: Re: What magic is this
The issue is, most states won't let you have a car registered out of state for very long, if you stay there for x amount of time, where x varies by state but is often only a couple of months.
I bought a used motorcycle that had a clean title, but had not been registered (fees paid) for eight years in California. It would have cost more than I paid for the motorcycle to re-register it in California. Registering it in South Dakota, then later registering it in California saved me several thousand dollars.
The whole shebang is money grubbing, especially when you consider that any information you give to DMV is then sold to whomever is willing to pay.
Privacy issues? Better methods for funding government? Less government to fund? Lawmakers making laws cause it's their job, rather than needed. Law enforcement looking to leverage technology rather than doing their jobs. Whole lotta questions need answering.
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Re: Re: Re: What magic is this
> have a car registered out of state for very
> long, if you stay there for x amount of time,
> where x varies by state but is often only a
> couple of months.
California is absurd-- it's two weeks. They apparently expect you to be at the DMV** registering your car and changing your license before you're even done unpacking your moving boxes.
**And now that we're giving drivers licenses to illegals, the lines at the DMV can literally last up to 12-14 hours long.
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Re: What magic is this
Back in the 1960s, anything of value was subject to the personal property tax, including silverware, fur coats, and antiques. If the city thought you were holding out on them, they would come to your house and inventory.
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Re: Re: What magic is this
> them, they would come to your house and inventory.
Not without a warrant they wouldn't.
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And how much does it cost to fuel this minivan for its daily drive? I'm betting it's more than the money recovered.
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If someone from the public cannot just go browsing through a database on a whim, neither should anyone else be able to without stating a good reason for it, putting that reason on paper for others to see, and having a third party make sure that the reason is acceptable.
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For the children
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God help you if you buy a used car from someone who money on property tax. You could find your car impounded. When you buy a used car, you file a form with the DMV letting them know that you bought a car and that you are not responsible for outstanding traffic tickets or parking tickets. I wonder if this same information protects you from property tax liens.
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This will probably extend to facial recognition soon.
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Re: This will probably extend to facial recognition soon.
Get a license, or pay an admission fee?
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Now you can't get in to work, because they impounded your car.
Now you lose your job, and have to allow your house to be foreclosed upon.
Clearly somebody did little thinking about the ramifications. Or they thought about them and decided to ignore them.
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This is misappropriation of funds- illegal.
This is deceptive practices- illegal.
What if the reader reads wrong? It happened to me on a toll road. I got a bill because the person reading the picture was stupid and typed the wrong letter on the plate ID. Took 3 months to clear it up!
This is all kinds of wrong!
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They Have Difficulty Collecting Revenue Through Ordinary Channels.
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Re: They Have Difficulty Collecting Revenue Through Ordinary Channels.
I heard there are a lot of Mustangs in the area. Corvettes are a little pricey.
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