<P> Mobile ANPR use is widespread among US law enforcement agencies at the city, county, state and federal level . According to a 2012 report by the Police Executive Research Forum, approximately 71% of all US police departments use some form of ANPR . Mobile ANPR is becoming a significant component of municipal predictive policing strategies and intelligence gathering, as well as for recovery of stolen vehicles, identification of wanted felons, and revenue collection from individuals who are delinquent on city or state taxes or fines, or monitoring for "Amber Alerts". With the widespread implementation of this technology, many U.S. states now issue misdemeanor citations of up to $500 when a license plate is identified as expired or on the incorrect vehicle . Successfully recognized plates may be matched against databases including "wanted person", "protection order", missing person, gang member, known and suspected terrorist, supervised release, immigration violator, and National Sex Offender lists . In addition to the real - time processing of license plate numbers, ANPR systems in the US collect (and can indefinitely store) data from each license plate capture . Images, dates, times and GPS coordinates can be stockpiled and can help place a suspect at a scene, aid in witness identification, pattern recognition or the tracking of individuals . </P> <P> The Department of Homeland Security has proposed a federal database to combine all monitoring systems, which was cancelled after privacy complaints . In 1998, a Washington D.C. police lieutenant pleaded guilty to extortion after blackmailing the owners of vehicles parked near a gay bar . In 2015, the Los Angeles Police Department proposed sending letters to the home addresses of all vehicles that enter areas of high prostitution . </P> <P> An early, private sector mobile ANPR application has been applications for vehicle repossession and recovery), although the application of ANPR by private companies to collect information from privately owned vehicles or collected from private property (for example, driveways) has become an issue of sensitivity and public debate . Other ANPR uses include parking enforcement, and revenue collection from individuals who are delinquent on city or state taxes or fines . The technology is often featured in the reality TV show Parking Wars featured on A&E Network . In the show, tow truck drivers and booting teams use the ANPR to find delinquent vehicles with high amounts of unpaid parking fines . </P> <P> Laws vary among the states regarding collection and retention of license plate information . As of 2018, 14 states have limits on how long the data may be retained, with the lowest being New Hampshire (3 minutes) and Colorado (3 years). The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in 2018 that data collected from ALPRs can constitute personal information . </P>

Automated number plate recognition (anpr) operator