Legal questions surround police camera scanning technology

Police investigation
Minneapolis police car on the evening of September 20, 2010.
MPR Photo / Nikki Tundel

Police agencies across Minnesota and the country are utilizing new technology that allows license plates to be scanned real time, as detailed in an article Friday in the Star-Tribune.

While the technology can be used to discover cars that might be stolen or drivers with suspended licenses, there are legal questions being raised about the data that are collected.

How long should information on where you've driven be kept by law enforcement agencies, and should it be legal? Those are some of the questions we'll discuss this morning with Ray Schmitz, the former Olmsted County Attorney and a former member of a state criminal and juvenile justice task force that's meeting Friday to discuss this issue.

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