Cops with new license plate reading technology

This is slightly off topic as response to several posters.

So, many angry nasty greedy people here. Why do we feel the need to put people down who need help? Why is there so much need for revenge? You people have no empathy for others and I'm really sad for you.

I got rear ended by someone without insurance. I remember making sure him, his wife and baby were alright. The guy had just bought the vehicle two weeks prior and it was a complete loss and not fully paid for. I was fully covered and I had no real anger toward him - he was a young guy with a new family and I figured that his loss was enough punishment for him. Hell I even let them use my phone to get a ride and offered them a ride had they not found one. I was even a bit more distraught when the state patrol wrote him a ticket for not having insurance an extra $500 over the $200 plus one he got for hitting me.

You can call him a criminal, but I don't agree he's nothing but a man just like the rest of us. Just starting out in life and figuring out how to make ends meet doesn't make him a criminal for being poor. That doesn't happen for guys who's parents pay for college, buy them everything they need until they figure out how to do it on their own. Criminal for being poor and uneducated? BS.

Looking at it as an outsider I see the guy struggling and learning a lesson the hard way, but then I see that the lesson is compounded by Law Enforcement who's intentions are good, but just result in making this guys struggle even harder by adding that extra $500 for not paying the corporate rip off insurance companies.

In all reality insurance is nothing, but a scam anyway.

I remember sitting there thinking - this guys a laborer making probably 10 bucks an hour and now he owes a couple thousand on his vehicle and is without it any longer, has a wife and baby to feed. How can you laugh at another's pain is beyond me.

There's so many people here who will stomp on a man when he's down, instead of looking at the big picture of life, love, liberty and happiness.

Chill out people and quit wishing bad things for people - except for a few permanent miscreants most of us have done screw-ups in our lives and we have moved on.

Sometimes it was just bad luck, if you had a perfect squeaky clean life, good for you keep it going and maybe put out your hand and help someone sometime along instead of always clobbering them with a bat every time they misstep.

Who is the real criminal in the Eyes of God? The guy who makes you pay to go to school unharmed or the little guy who sneaks by the bully without paying another day.


[edit on 4-6-2008 by verylowfrequency]

reply to post by verylowfrequency

I think this technology is a great tool for locating stolen cars, or doing quick lookups when pulling vehicles over, but that's about it.

There's no splitting hairs here. The technology is what it is. Locating stolen cars used to be as simple as a BOLO. Not perfect, but kept the cops on the lookout for stolen cars, or even other cars of interest, like matching the description of one used in a robbery and such.

How quick does a lookup have to be? Is the cop now incapable of typing a few keys? Even years ago all it took was a quick call over the radio.

Eventually they might disable your car or pull over your vehicle for not paying your power bill on time, or being late to work, not paying child support, etc. etc.

There is a member here on ATS who's grandmother was sued over a dentist bill. She missed a notice, and a contempt warrant went out for her. The member's mother was driving the grandmother's car late at night, to get medicine if I remember correctly. The cop stopped her, and threatened to impound the car. Then he forced her to go back and roust the sick grandmother who was then promptly arrested.

So there you have it. All of this over something as mundane as a bill. A private civil matter. So the same could happen to you if you didn't pay your power bill.

And not paying your child support. Well, that's already in place here in NY. Skip child-support, your driver license gets suspended, and therefore your plate will be tagged in the system. So even if you happen to be someone else driving the car, and not the person behind on their support, you're still nailed. Happened to a girl I know, who's boyfriend is behind in support, several times. She uses the car to get to work to feed her own kids, but gets stopped and harassed all the time. In fact, she already lost one job by being more than an hour late, twice.

reply to post by Conspiracy Theorist


Yes actually things like this do affect NORMAL people. Lets say your a 40 year old person, who as most NORMAL Americans, had a wild time when they were in their 20s. Those systems give out every peice of info on you, so if you have a marijuana charge from 20 years ago, and they dont care about the date, they will stop you and search your car. IF THATS NOT GESTAPO, THEN WE LIVE IN SOVIET AMERICA.

and i would like to ask the person writing this if they have a telephone, well obviously you do, because you have some form of internet.
WELL THAT MEANS YOU ARE AFFECTED BY THE PATRIOT ACT. EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN IS AFFECTED BY THAT NAZI, GESTAPO, SOVIET, BIG BROTHER KINDA CRAP. SO THINK BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING, BECAUSE GEORGEY BOY BUSH HAS BEEN LISTING TO US SINCE 9/11, WHICH IM NOT SURE IF HE HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THAT OR NOT.