DHS Seeks National License-Plate Tracking System

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is looking for a private company to deliver a national license-plate tracking system that would provide access to information from commercial and law enforcement systems. The database would help catch fugitive illegal immigrants, The Washington Post reported based on the DHS solicitation, but it could contain more than 1 billion records that could be shared with other agencies, an issue that raises privacy concerns.

The database “could only be accessed in conjunction with ongoing criminal investigations or to locate wanted individuals,” a spokeswoman for DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency told The Post.

ICE agents would be able to use the database while working in the field — using a smartphone, they would take a picture of a license plate and instantly compare it against various lists and information. The agency is seeking bids from companies to create the database using a variety of sources including law enforcement agencies and car-repossession companies.

Automatic license-plate readers have become increasingly common in state and local government, which outfit different objects, from police cars to highway onramps, with the technology. Using high-speed cameras to read license plates, the system then compares the data to information like stolen cars or lists of criminal suspects.

Since 2004, the FBI has worked with most states and dozens of local departments to compare license-plate data against the National Crime Information Center database, and in the process, has located more than 800 wanted individuals, The Post reported. A representative from the Electronic Privacy Information Center said the FBI has been working to assess the privacy impact of its license-plate reader program since 2012, but no information has been made public.