The Columbia police department has been offered a couple of police car mounted license plate scanning systems, free of charge. As noted before, this scanner technology is on the verge of becoming widespread in Missouri law enforcement, in the search for stolen cars and driver’s who may have outstanding criminal warrants. [Read more…]
Missouri House Passes Enhanced Drunk Driving Laws
The Missouri house passed a proposed law that would allow police to take a blood sample of those suspected of drunk driving without requiring a warrant.
The law is part of a nationwide trend of “no refusals” to tests that would chemically establish intoxication, by either breath test or blood test, to determine if a suspect is above the nationwide legal limit of .08% BAC (blood alcohol content), indicating legal impairment.
Numerous constitutional questions arise from this law, as to whether this is considered “self-incriminating” evidence in DWI cases. Other states, such as Texas, get around this by essentially having judges on call to issue warrants on the spot.
The house bill is designated as HB 1695. The bill moves on to the Senate (as SB 880) for passage, and other drunk driving law changes may be included in the final package, including possible enhanced penalties for enhanced or high BAC results of .15%, nearly twice the legal limit.
More on Automatic License Plate Recognition in Missouri
Another report adds details about the use of Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) scanning systems in Missouri.
License Plate Scanners Deployed in Columbia, MO
The Columbia Police Department and Boone County Sheriff’s Department are employing aggressive new law enforcement technologies to locate and track suspected criminals or other scofflaws. [Read more…]