Legal challenges in police use of automated number plate recognition cameras

By RNZ

Police use of footage from high-tech automated number plate recognition cameras is being challenged in court by defendants.

At least 5000 cameras connected to two private networks provide footage of vehicle licence plates that police use to prosecute people.

At the heart of the unprecedented legal challenges is that this amounts to use of a tracking device without a warrant, in breach of search and surveillance laws. Another challenge is that it is in breach of the Privacy Act and the Bill of Rights.

There are at least two court cases, but suppressions mean details cannot be reported.

One argument is that the footage is obtained as part of a private contractual arrangement with a surveillance system paid for by the police.

The Criminal Bar Association said police’s use of automated number plate recognition (ANPR) was just the “tip of the iceberg” regarding surveillance methods police were not being open about.

“We need to have a public conversation about the appropriate level of state surveillance in a free and democratic country,” it said.

Police have had a partnership to tap into the private web-based ANPR network of…