Why would that be, you may ask?
"the latest arrest made possible by the pervasive use of surveillance technology"
Kinda justifies it all, doesn't it -- as well as pushing the women should live in constant fear theme.
"Used-car GPS helps police find abducted woman" by Sean Carlin and Larry O’Dell | Associated Press November 07, 2014
PHILADELPHIA — A woman snatched off the streets of Philadelphia was rescued with the help of a GPS device that had been installed on the suspect’s car by the dealer in case the vehicle needed to be repossessed, authorities said Thursday.
It was the latest arrest made possible by the pervasive use of surveillance technology. And it involved not just GPS but surveillance video, traffic-camera imagery, and a cellphone that was left behind....
Police Inspector James Kelly said the dealership sells to customers with poor credit and routinely puts GPS devices on its cars so they can be located and repossessed if the owners fall behind on payments.
Though aided by technology, the kidnapping investigation began in a decidedly old-fashioned way: with a witness who immediately called police. Police quickly discovered the abduction had been caught on video. Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, 22, dropped her phone, giving police a quick ID.
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Related:
"A bank card belonging to a woman abducted from a Philadelphia street was used the next morning in Maryland, police said Tuesday as relatives tearfully pleaded for her return. It was a fresh lead in a case that quickly gained attention after police released black and white surveillance video showing the 22-year-old woman flailing in vain as a man rushed her along a sidewalk to a parked car."
Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm not buying the crisis actor photo this time. Wow.
Also see: Police: Woman abducted in Philadelphia found safe
Translation: After seeing that photo the propaganda cratered, and it was message, I mean mission accomplished anyway.
Al$o related(?):
"Using police-style systems, company tracks autos then sells the data" by Steve Orr | Democrat & Chronicle November 03, 2014
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Privately owned license-plate imaging systems are popping up in upstate New York — in parking lots and shopping malls and, soon, on at least a few parts of the New York State Thruway.
The digital cameras are mounted on cars and trucks driven by a small army of repo men who are shadowing a practice of US law enforcement that some find objectionable. Data collected by the auto-repossession companies are being added to an ever-growing database of license-plate records that is made available to commercial buyers as well as to government agencies.
Related: Modern Day Robin Hoods
And their merry men.
Currently, that database has about 2.3 billion permanent records. On average, the whereabouts of every vehicle in the United States appears in that database nine times.
Then the "terrorists" can never be a threat, can they?
Todd Hodnett, founder of the company that aggregates and sells that data, defends the activity as lawful and harmless: ‘‘We’re just photographing things that are publicly visible.’’
Many private-sector camera operators, like parking companies, say they do not know the names and addresses behind the plates they scan. Others, like universities, say they discard the records quickly.
But that doesn’t satisfy critics. No matter how benign the intentions of camera system operators, they say, their data may prove irresistible to government and to private parties that are bent on snooping.
********
Hodnett launched Digital Recognition Network in 2007 to help repo companies find cars they’re hired to repossess. A year later, the idea arose of repurposing the records. ‘‘We thought we could turn around and offer this for law-enforcement purposes,’’ he said.
In partnership with Vigilant Solutions, a California hardware maker that provided cameras for DRN’s system and now is DRN’s corporate parent, Hodnett launched the National Vehicle Location Service. It incorporates the private-sector data collected by DRN with other plate records gathered by police and stored on Vigilant computer servers. Law enforcement agencies have limited free access to the database. Full access is available for a fee.
The company also sells data to commercial customers that are allowed access to motor vehicle records under federal law. ‘‘We do not make it available to any individuals,’’ Hodnett said.
He said DRN’s database ‘‘does not contain any personally identifiable information whatsoever.’’
But any number of companies and agencies can match a plate to a name, and anyone with the money and a plausible reason can hire a private investigator to surf through DRN’s 2.3 billion records....
I don't know where I'm going, but you sure know where I been.
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All for the good, of course, because it will help find missing and terrified women. Never you mind those killed in airstrikes overseas.
