Tag Archives: law enforcement

When is a Law Enforcement Camera a Law Enforcement Camera?

Many years ago I was driving on Holt Boulevard in Montclair, California, preparing to make a left turn on Central. I followed the vehicle behind me and made my left turn…only then noticing that the left turn light was now red.

As the registered owner of the vehicle I was driving, I received an email from the city of Montclair a few days later. Because this is when Montclair was using cameras for traffic enforcement.

Off to traffic school.

Montclair doesn’t use traffic cameras any more, but all sorts of cameras are owned by, or accessible to, law enforcement agencies.

But how should they be used?

404 Media reported that the Georgia State Patrol accesses Flock cameras, for the intended purpose of gathering information for serious crimes. But what happens when the camera captures something not serious?

“Georgia State Patrol used its system of Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) surveillance cameras to issue a ticket to a motorcyclist who was allegedly looking at his cell phone while riding, according to a copy of the citation obtained by 404 Media….The incident happened December 26 in Coffee County, Georgia. The ticket lists the offense as ‘Holding/supporting wireless telecommunications device,’ and includes the note ‘CAPTURED ON FLOCK CAMERA 31 MM 1 HOLDING PHONE IN LEFT HAND.’”

The man went to court and the ticket was dropped, but 404 Media is still outraged that the ticket was issued in the first place. Not because of Georgia’s policies, but because of other policies.

“Many police departments go out of their way to tell community members that Flock cameras are not used for traffic enforcement. For example, the City of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, states in a FAQ that “GSPD [Glenwood Springs Police Department] does not use Flock cameras for traffic enforcement, parking enforcement, or minor code violations.” El Paso, Texas, tells residents “these are not traffic enforcement cameras. They do not issue tickets, do not monitor speed, and do not generate revenue. They are investigative tools used after crimes occur.” Lynwood, Washington tells residents “these cameras will not be used for traffic infractions, immigration enforcement, or monitoring First Amendment-protected expressive activity” (Flock cameras have now been used for all of these purposes, as we have reported.)”

You will recall that I addressed another Flock Safety case, in which a citizen made public records requests from two Washington state jurisdictions. The jurisdictions said that they didn’t have the data; Flock Safety did. Flock Safety said that it had deleted the data.

Basically, Flock Safety is controversial, and some people are going to oppose ANYTHING they do. Even when Flock Safety technology protects people from dangerous drivers.

My view is that if a camera is used by a law enforcement agency, and there is no law prohibiting the law enforcement agency from using a camera for a particular purpose, then the agency can use the camera. There appears to be no such law in Georgia, so I’m not bent out of shape over this.

What are your thoughts? Is this a privacy violation?

Vertical Taxonomies: the UK Home Office Data Standards

I’ve talked about taxonomies ad nauseum, but they apply in multiple cases, including how police agencies talk to each other.

The United Kingdom’s Home Office has published the National Police Chiefs’ Council Minimum POLE Data Standards Dictionary. As the capitalization, I mean capitalisation, suggests, POLE is an acronym standing for Person, Object, Location, Event. The dictionary provides a common method for police agencies to talk to each other about…well, about people, objects, locations, and events.

Some of the comments in the dictionary seem unnecessary, but I guess it’s better to be too specific than not specific at all. Example:

If a telephone number is unknown – do not make one up.

In truth, this ties to a related notation:

A blank field is preferable to a known error…

Because, as anyone who has ever been a teenager will know, things that happen can be added to your permanent record.

Speaking of which, PERSON records may include offenders, suspects, victims, witnesses, and multiple other living, dead, or not-yet-born parties.

Very few specific OBJECT types are called out, but those that do include vehicles, land, and buildings. The OBJECT types also include identifying numbers such as passport numbers and telephone numbers.

A LOCATION may be an address, a geolocation, or another location designator. Or “no fixed abode.”

An EVENT may be a crime, an incident, a “custody,” a stop search, a safeguarding, and a case of “anti-social behaviour.”

Google Gemini.

So if a Welsh police officer runs into a person trashing a vehicle a a particular geolocation, the officer has all the tools to record what has happened and what will happen.

Montana Fingerprinting Laws…and Costs

School volunteers aren’t free…especially when they need background checks.

Montana Public Radio explains that the state imposed new fingerprint-based background checks for school volunteers. 

At $30 a pop, the costs add up. Missoula is spending an additional $20,000 a month to fund this.

Bozeman isn’t paying for this. It’s making the volunteers pay.

Helena was already fingerprinting volunteers and therefore isn’t incurring any additional costs.

To All the People Who Wanted to Defund the Police

I discussed the whole “defund the police” movement years ago, and now in 2026 we are still depending upon the police to protect us.

According to KARE, here is what happened when the police investigated the death of Alex Pretti…or tried to do so.

“Despite having a signed warrant from a judge, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) was denied access to the scene where a man was fatally shot by federal agents Saturday morning in south Minneapolis, according to the BCA.

“Minnesota BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said the department was initially turned away at the scene by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), so the BCA obtained a warrant from an independent judge. Evans said the judge agreed that the BCA had probable cause to investigate the scene, but DHS officials wouldn’t allow the BCA access to the scene.”

And I might as well say this also…I don’t believe in abolishing ICE either.

Anti-Human Trafficking: Media and Tools

Hillsborough County, Florida seeks bidders for “the continuation of an anti-human trafficking media campaign and related services.”

Bredemarket is not expert in anti-human trafficking campaigns, but several of Bredemarket’s clients and former clients have used biometrics to combat human trafficking and rescue the victims.

Contribute however you can.

When Technology Catches Up: 1980 Murderer of Michelle “Missy” Jones Just Convicted

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this in September 2020:

“The Fontana Police Department in San Bernardino County, California, said it arrested Leonard Nash, 66, of Las Vegas on a warrant charging him with murder in the July 5, 1980, slaying of Michelle “Missy” Jones. The young woman was found slain in a grapefruit grove in Fontana.”

So why did it take 40 years to arrest Nash?

“Police said forensic evidence was collected during Jones’ autopsy, but technology at the time did not allow it to be connected to an offender.”

In 2020, the Riverside/San Bernardino CAL-DNA Laboratory successfully obtained a profile, but it did not match the DNA profile of any known offender. Nash, a person of interest, was matched to the profile via “discarded DNA.”

Anyway, Nash was convicted this month, but the news stories that described his conviction are inaccessible to you and me.

Manager of the Year?

(Imagen 4)

From Law&Crime:

“According to an arrest report reviewed by Law&Crime, [James Anthony] Morris [Jr.] was mopping the floor of the Subway shop when a 10-year-old girl walked across the area he had just cleaned. The girl’s mother told her to apologize to Morris, who then allegedly grabbed the girl by the hand and brought her to the back of the restaurant.

“He then allegedly locked the girl in a room, and the mother began to ‘panic.’…

“After [Jacksonville FL]  police read Morris his rights, he invoked his right to remain silent and “refused” to make a statement. He posted $5,000 bond after being booked into jail on one charge of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13.”

I think one Jacksonville Subway franchise is going to be in real trouble…especially if Morris himself owns the franchise.

Subway manager trapped 10-year-old girl behind a locked door and said her parents were ‘trash and terrible people,’ police say

Subway manager trapped 10-year-old behind locked door: Cops

What Are Fingerprint Minutiae?

(Imagen 4)

(Part of the biometric product marketing expert series)

Because many of the subscribers and followers of my Substack page aren’t fingerprint experts (although a few are), my posts on Substack tend to be more introductory. So I wrote this for Substack, but also decided to share it on the Bredemarket blog at some point.

So let’s define what fingerprint minutiae are. 

To do this, look at the tip of one of the fingers on your hand…but not too closely. (Or just Level 2, not Level 3.)

If you look sort of closely at your fingertip, you see one commonality between (most) fingers and Ruffles: both have ridges. For purposes of this exercise, take a close look at where the ridges go.

  • In some cases, the ridges just stop and go no further.
  • In other cases, a single ridge splits into two or more ridges. Or if you want to follow a different perspective, two or more ridges combine into a single ridge. But that perspective screws up the discussion later.
  • Ridges do other things which I will ignore for now.

The important things is that you can identify the specific point at which a ridge ending occurs. And you can identify the specific point of a bifurcation, where a ridge splits into two ridges. (If a ridge splits into three, that’s a trifurcation.)

Those ridge ending and bifurcation points? Those are the minutiae.

Human fingerprint examiners can identify these minutiae points.

So can the algorithms on an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) or an automated biometric identification system (ABIS).

And if two fingers have minutiae in the same locations, and don’t have minutiae in one finger that are not present on the other finger…then they’re the same finger. (I’m simplifying here, since the quality of the prints and the way the skin bends affect the ability to find minutiae.)

Which means that if the police find a fingerprint on a stolen car that doesn’t belong to the owner…

…and the minutiae on your finger match the minutiae on the print from the car…

…you’d better have a good lawyer.

Oh, and one more thing: you also have ridges, ridge endings, and bifurcations on your palms and toes. So don’t try to steal a car while barefoot.