By Rick Wright

Staff Writer 

Lawmakers should consider a compromise to end the debate over license plate recognition technology in police cars, according to Sen. Larry Bliss (D-South Portland, Cape Elizabeth).

Bliss testified before the Legislature’s transportation committee about a bill to regulate use of traffic surveillance cameras. If enacted into law, the bill would ban the technology called Automated License Plate Recognition

The technology, used in one South Portland cruiser,  includes three cameras mounted atop the vehicle that can photograph license plates and compare them to plate numbers on an established “hot list” from local, state, and national databases.

The system immediately alerts an officer if it finds a license plate matched to wanted persons, Amber alerts or stolen vehicles. 

Proponents support use of this system because they say it’s an efficient and effective way to catch criminals. 

Opponents, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union and Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, say it’s an invasion of privacy.

While other speakers argued for and against the bill during a public hearing in Augusta, Bliss recommended the committee drop the bill and change it to a resolve, which would allow a committee to study how to control the technology without banning it.

Bliss suggested the committee study the issue for one year while South Portland police are allowed to use it in one cruiser.

“You can observe the technology in operation while you create the guidelines for statewide use,” Bliss told committee members.

South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins spoke against the bill.

“I urge you to think about this technology as an additional tool we use to do our job,” Googins told lawmakers. “Our goal is to serve our community without infringing upon law-abiding citizens. My department takes extreme care to treat this information with the respect and the privacy it deserves.”

George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, favors the bill to ban plate-recognition technology. 

“When we trade freedom for security, we make a bargain with the devil. The police do not need this surveillance system, this spy camera, nor should they have it,” Smith said in testimony at the public hearing in Augusta.

The transportation committee is scheduled to discuss the bill in more detail at a Feb. 19 workshop, according to Lt. Frank Clark of the South Portland Police Department. 

If the bill is voted out of committee with an “ought to pass” recommendation, it will then go to the House of Representatives, the Senate and finally to Gov. John Baldacci to be signed into law.

Rick Wright can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237, or news@inthesentry.com.