Tomorrow night, the Waco City Council will vote on a resolution authorizing the purchase of an Automatic License Plate Reader System for $65,000. The City of Waco is facing a $2.5 million shortfall. This is a luxury we cannot afford. Besides the cost, this technology may allow police officers to check the status of registration, insurance of the likely driver, and the status of the likely driver's driver license WITHOUT probable cause. It's main purpose is to generate revenue for the City and NOT to improve public safety. If used this way, this would be a violation of our Fourth Amendment right protecting us from illegal searches.
The council will meet at the City of Waco Operations Center, 1415 N. 4th Street, Waco, TX in the Training Room at 6:00 pm. I will be addressing the council on this issue. If you wish to address the council, they will have cards to fill out and you may make a statement up to three minutes long. Your attendance is appreciated.
MEANWHILE.....
I wrote that earlier today but didn't get it entered on the blog. I wrote to my council member Randy Riggs (and all the other council members, except Mr. Duncan because he's not set up yet, and the mayor) saying that I do not believe we should be spending $65,000 on this when we will have a budget shortfall.
Here is his response:
Lisa,
Thank you for your email. I will consider your input as the council discusses the purchase of the license plate reader system. The funds used to purchase the equipment are forfeiture funds and are specifically restricted for certain use under state law. Police officers currently run license plates manually. There have been numerous arrests based on this procedure and the reader will allow our officers to provide a better service. This equipment was recommended by Police Chief Stroman. Would you rather spend the forfeiture funds on different equipment? Please let me know.
Thanks,
Randy
Here is my response to him:
I'm confused by the sentence "There have been numerous arrests based on this procedure...." You may mean there have been numerous FALSE arrests based on manually running plates. I agree that false arrests should be avoided. Through careful attention and cross-checking the make and model of the vehicle these false arrests can be greatly reduced if not eliminated.
What happens to the funds if they are not used? To whom are they returned? I have no problem returning funds to the state or federal government. If local governments do not request grants then taxing authorities will not have to tax citizens.
Governments at ALL levels are in budget shortfall and accumulating debt. It has to stop and stop soon! Someone has to stop spending the money and I would like to see Waco be a leader in that trend. I believe that will attract businesses. City staff often state that we must use the money or it won't be used. Everybody (including me, sometimes) thinks to themselves, "Oh, OK, that's fine then." The other argument is that someone will get the money, it might as well be us. That kind of thinking leads to spending we (global "we" as in our country) can't afford. If cities across the state and across the country will stop spending grant money and stimulus money, the federal government will stop allocating it and borrowing money to fund it.
My other concern is that this equipment can be used to gather information about a vehicle and/or it's driver without a stop. In my opinion, this would amount to an illegal search because there is no probable cause. In general, I'm opposed to any electronic device intended to "catch" someone breaking a law. Electronic devices do not have the judgment and sense of fairness as we hope to find with a trained and professional police officer.
If the money MUST be used and cannot be sent back, I would much rather see the funds used on something that will actually improve public safety or the safety of our officers rather than just prevent data entry errors. This could be sidewalks or bicycle lanes. I don't know the options and restrictions, so I cannot make an informed recommendation.
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. I truly appreciate that.
Lisa
I did not receive a second response. This was most likely because the second email was sent after normal business hours. I will update if another response is sent.
I did not receive a second response. This was most likely because the second email was sent after normal business hours. I will update if another response is sent.
