A new kind of drive-by shooting:
It is hard to reconcile traffic camera tickets with a free society. There is no due process and
no right to confront your accuser. Imaginative police chiefs are already coming up with new
uses for the technology. Tampa, Florida’s Ybor entertainment district has 36 mounted
cameras that can capture images of up to eight people at a time and compare them with a
computer database filled with the facial features of people wanted on active warrants.What’s next? Cameras to catch those smoking, using cell phones or not wearing seat belts?
We’re all for traffic enforcement, but there is a danger that this technology could ultimately
be used to monitor the comings and goings of citizens. Wall Street Journal opinion
