This is an incredibly sloppy piece of argumentation here from the
@CatoInstitute’s
@RIKKISCHLOTT.
For starters, there’s the erroneous claim that ALPRs “have only been in use for a few years, at this point.” This… isn’t true. These cameras have been in use for more than 20 years. By 2010, 40% of large police departments had them. Nor are the kinds of misuses of the systems she describes unique to ALPRs.
The biggest problem with this video is how it deals with what she says is the “biggest problem” for ALPRs: The Fourth Amendment. Per Schlott, police use of these cameras “clearly amounts to a pretty big invasion of your privacy.” Clear to whom exactly? Not to the institutions the very Constitution to which she appeals vests with the power of judicial review. What she leaves out is that—despite dozens of legal challenges to the use of ALPRs filed in both federal and state courts all across the country over many years—you won’t find ONE SINGLE standing decision finding them unconstitutional. Appellate courts from coast to coast are UNANIMOUS in upholding the constitutionality of ALPR systems (including Flock’s). The one trial court ruling to the contrary was swiftly overturned on appeal.
The reason for this is that these camera systems can’t actually “effectively trace all of your movements,” as Schlott falsely asserts. In every jurisdiction that has them, these camera networks are only capable of viewing a FRACTION OF 1% of the roadway people could possibly drive on. This is explained in the Fourth Amendment section of my recent paper on this, which also runs through some of the many cases rejecting constitutional challenges to ALPRs (read it here:
manhattan.institute/article/…).
The cherry on top though is the citation of Benjamin Franklin’s 1755 letter to the colonial governor on behalf of the Pennsylvania Assembly. You’ve all heard/read it: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
One problem: The “essential Liberty” Franklin was referring to was the right of the government to tax its citizens to fund efforts to secure the colony against attacks during the French and Indian War; and the “temporary Safety” he was referencing was the Penn family’s offer of a one-time cash payment conditional on the assembly’s admission that they had no right to tax their land. In short, Franklin was making the exact opposite point Schlott suggests. Public safety is the one thing we should sacrifice some of our liberty for. All of our Founders understood this. This idea is reflected in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, where he wrote that “For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other law-giver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest…”
It’s reflected in Madison’s observation that “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
And it’s reflected in Hamilton’s warning that “a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people.”
Let’s not confuse lawlessness with freedom, and let’s not make it harder for police to catch bad guys based on false assertions, legally baseless claims of constitutional infirmity, and out-of-context quotes.
Flock cameras log the plates of every car that passes, building a record of where people go. The Fourth Amendment was written to stop the government from tracking you this way. Safety does not require surrendering that protection, says Cato’s
@RIKKISCHLOTT.