Citizens have started pushing back against Flock Safety, a company best known for its AI-powered Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs). Now they’ve got another company they can add to their enemies list. According to a report from 404 Media, a company called BusPatrol has installed cameras on school buses across the country and is planning to let law enforcement use them to scan license plates.
It’s likely that the “letting law enforcement use them” part is not the first bit of information that gave you pause. Perhaps it’s the fact there’s a company installing AI-powered cameras in school buses. That is BusPatrol’s whole modus operandi. The company claims to have cameras installed on more than 40,000 buses in 24 states and is “protecting” (read: monitoring) more than two million students nationwide. The marketing for the technology is that it is designed to help catch “stop arm” violators—people who blow by the bus when the “Stop” sign is deployed so that kids can get off the bus safely. It records the violation and identifies the license plate number, sends that to law enforcement, and the cops issue a fine.
Simple enough—though the idea that it works is pretty dubious, according to a Bloomberg investigation that failed to find a meaningful decrease in collisions near BusPatrol-equipped buses. Apparently, that alone also is not sufficient to be a standalone business model. According to 404 Media, the company will apparently expand from just identifying people who ignore the bus “Stop” sign to recording all license plates that go past its camera, making the bus a mobile surveillance system. That plate information will be shared with law enforcement.
According to the report, BusPatrol plans to take photos of every car that passes a bus, record the vehicle’s license plate and GPS location at the time the picture is snapped, and then allow law enforcement to access that information. That information can be acquired without a warrant, per 404 Media, and creates what is effectively a lawless surveillance tool.
One doesn’t have to look far to find out how such a system can be abused. Flock Safety cameras have become notorious for excessive use by law enforcement, from local cops sharing information from the cameras with ICE to law enforcement in Texas using the cameras to try to track down a woman who had an abortion. Now supercharge that, as the camera is constantly moving, and give it the protection of being marketed as a safety tool to protect kids and you have BusPatrol.
Per 404 Media, the company is currently testing this broad surveillance effort on just a few buses, but plans to roll it out more broadly in the near future. So keep an eye out for buses because soon they’ll be keeping an eye out for you.
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