Claiming he always felt uneasy with the first one because of the aggressive nature in intervening in an intrusive manner into privacy concerns. He continued by saying that he had expressed his concerns with the first one that was recommended.
The three additional plate finders are being provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance grant programs for our city, at no cost to the city. Apparently Alderman Sherwood cares more about a criminal's privacy than he does about keeping our neighborhoods safe!
The police department indicated that the additional equipment would offer greater safety for the public in helping to manage burglaries and hit and run cases because with the four cruisers roaming our streets these units would immediately provide the information needed of what vehicles were in the area and would help the police identify outsiders that don't belong. Chief William Gagliardi ended the interchange with Sherwood by advising him "Don't be afraid of the future."
19 comments:
Don't these liberals always care more about the criminals than they do the crime victims?
Come on Phil! You have kids. If this system could help get a child molester, drug dealer, or burglar caught in your neighborhood this would be a non issue. Protecting the citizens of New Britain should be the main focus here. You may wonder what I am talking about when I run my mouth about our council's lack of common sense, this is exactly what I am talking about. People that do not break the law do not have to worry about, so why should you?
I was told Sherwood voted for them?
Once again Sherwood says NO just to say it and hear his own voice. Free equipment, safer Streets and City, How can anyone say no to that ??? I CANT WAIT TO VOTE YOU OUT NEXT YEAR !!!! Or maybe run for your seat and win it ! Oh and on a side note, Is this the Sherwood that got caught up in the Buy a Job scandal in the 80"s ???
Sounds to me like Phil sympathizes with the criminals instead of caring about their victims. He apparently opposes the police doing their job, afterall, these criminals probably had circumstances that forced them to commit their crimes, so we should just let them go, besides, it is most likely George Bush's fault anyway.
The Plate Finder System is a very successful way to both find criminals and bring them to justice and collect overdue scoff law payments, ie: car taxes, parking tickets.
No system however is perfect as happened in New Haven where on numerous occasions a single mother's car was booted and towed for un-paid auto taxes. The problem, there was a glitch? This un-fortunate person did not have an outstanding bill with New Haven but continued to have to prove herself, was stranded several times without her vehichle and had to pay to get her car out the impound lot more than once.
New Haven determined the benefit to plate finder enforcment outweighs the few glitches. I'm sure the poor single mom would have a few things to say herself about the program.
Additionally, New Haven made sweeping public announcements for those persons with tickets or overdue taxes to come in and pay their bills before the plate finder was enforced. News reports showed lines of people paying up and New Haven collected alot of back taxes and parking tickets. I believe some interest and fees were also waived if you came down by the time specified?
This subject has come up at several meetings that I have attended and discussion of public notice is always mentioned. However, I have not heard TV news announcments regarding this here in our city as I heard in New Haven.
If marketed correctly, the Plate Finder can yield a windfall for the tax collector's office. If handled poorly, it could be to our detriment.
Sally Eigenraam
Anonymous said...
I was told Sherwood voted for them?
THE VOTE DOESN'T MATTER! ITS THE DIALOG IN HIS PRESENTATION TO THE POLICE CHIEF THAT DID MATTER WITH HIS ULTRA LIBERAL SLANT ON PROTECTING THE CRIMINALS AND NOT THE CITIZENS OF THIS CITY.
As I recall, Sherwood was against the first one too! Didn't he claim our police might "abuse it?" I guess he sees collecting back taxes, forcing people to actually pay their overdue parking tickets, removing unregistered and uninsured cars and arresting wanted criminals all to be abuse?
The plate reader allows for instant collection of information that the police could obtain legally anyways. It is as if there was an eagle-eyed passenger in the car writing down and running every plate they came across. So I don't know exactly how this is a privacy issue.
Furthermore the plate reader is a valuable investigative tool. If you know of an area of high crime a plate scanner equipped car can do a drive through. The plates of all vehicles will be recorded. If a crime is reported a second drive through will reveal which vehicles have left giving you a place to begin investigating. If a witness had a description of the vehicle or a partial plate number then it could be checked against cars that were known to be in the area.
While I am typically wary of concepts like 24 hour surveillance via cameras the plate reader has much less potential for abuse. Furthermore it has the potential to help lower the amount of unpaid tickets and back taxes, further boons to the city.
Makes one wonder what Alderman Sherwood is hiding. Is his car parked in unsavory sections of town? Is he having secret meetings with "working women"?
do some of his friends have unpaid taxes or tickets? does he?
why else would someone not want everyone to pay their fair share, like the rest of us have to?
it does make one wonder, doesn't it?
Didn't Mike Trueworthy get picked up for driving on an expired registration?
Nobody has any right to privacy when driving down a public street. If you want privacy, stay inside your home. You give up that so-called right to privacy when you get a driver's license and put a state issued license plate on your car. The police are free to do whatever they want with your license plate number whenever you drive down that public street.
Perhaps Mr. Sherwood needs to sell his car and start riding the bus, but he then better pay cash for each trip, because if he buys a bus pass, another government entity will have a public record of all his travels.
What is Sherwood so nervous about? I thought he believed in the government running our lives from the cradle to the grave, so I would expect him to want a dozen of these in use!
Anonymous said…
What is Sherwood so nervous about? I thought he believed in the government running our lives from the cradle to the grave, so I would expect him to want a dozen of these in use!
The person who posted this message makes a good point. Because democrats are the party who is known for controlling every aspect of our lives one can’t help but wonder why a so called republican such as Stewart is for these plate finders.
What’s that saying? If it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck and if it acts like a duck…
"Nobody has any right to privacy when driving down a public street. If you want privacy, stay inside your home."
Our American Constitution says otherwise. Were you aware the scanners have the ability to scan the license plates on the cars in your home driveway? If it can read entire shopping plaza license plates while driving down the street or isles of parking lots what makes you think it doesn't do it to homes.
If it walks like a goose and sh*ts like a goose it must be in the parks.
Even the Supreme Court has upheld the police in searching, without a warrant, anything in plain view, and not within the curtilage of your home, so if the license plate of a car parked in your driveway is in plain view of the public street, it is fair game. The police may legally run your plate, and if for argument's sake say it is stolen, they are free to seize that car right out of your driveway and arrest you for interfering if you try to interfere with their efforts, and if they have probable cause to believe you stole it, they can arrest you for that too, and it will all withstand a Constitutional challenge both in Connecticut and the U.S. Constitution.
This would be no different than you having contraband in plain view inside your home, for example if you had marijuana plants inside the window, they would be able to force entry into your home, without a warrant, and seize the plants because they were in plain view.
Sounds like another liberal trying to find monkey wrenches to throw into the system, but you'll have to try again, because you are wrong on this one!
...and if you intentionally block the driveway of a nursing home to protest those greedy rich people who own the nursing home, the police can haul you away in handcuffs!
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