San Jose Looks at Using Garbage Haulers to Catch Car Thieves

San Jose Mercury News

The noisy garbage trucks that lumber down San Jose streets every week could soon pick up more than just trash -- they might also scan your license plate and all your neighbors' tags, too, in a proposed city-wide sweep for stolen vehicles that has civil libertarians crying foul.

Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilmen Johnny Khamis and Raul Peralez proposed that the city consider strapping license plate readers to the front of garbage trucks, allowing them to record the plates of every car along their routes. The data would be fed directly to the Police Department from the privately operated trash trucks, prompting an officer to respond to stolen vehicles or cars involved with serious crime.

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