Operation Crackdown

On Saturday the Daily Mail ran details of a bizarre operation being run by Sussex Police called 'Operation Crackdown'.

The basic premise of OC is that local people are encouraged to submit reports of 'anti-social driving' online.

Which might seem fair enough, except that all the numberplates are held on a central database, cross-referenced with the ANPR database and after two reports the owner of the vehicle starts getting threatening letters.

To quote the promotional leaflet produced in conjunction with the scheme:

Under the section headed, If you See Someone Driving Antisocially, it says; 'Pull over safely at the side of the road, or ask a passenger to write down details.

'Record the make, model, colour and number plate of the vehicle.

'To help pin-point where you saw the incident..use house numbers, road names or shop names. Write down what you saw as soon as you can, so it's fresh in your mind.

It goes on: 'All reports remain live for a period of two months and a vehicle is automatically 'flagged up' if it is reported more than once.

I really don't need to spell it out, but can anyone see how this ludicrous scheme might be abused by nosy neighbours, grudge-bearing colleagues and general miscreants?

Take a look at the website and see the full horror for yourself.

This is the latest step towards recruiting the citizenry into the state spying machine.

By Dylan Sharpe

Comments

[Andrew Ampers Taylor]

What a brilliant way of getting at your enemies.

There are a few people I would like to shop! But I'd better make sure they own cars first I suppose.

I remember reading about this decades ago, it's old news. The Stasi used to do it.

[Hapiness]

Yes, this is open to abuse. Personally, i don't have a car, but I can easily see how a malicious person can misuse this. Besides, what are all those sleeping CCTV cameras doing? Isn't this why they have cameras installed everywhere? Additionally, is this not what the police are paid to do? If we have a paid and of course the 'unpaid volunteers' within the force, shoud THEY not be out and about doing THEIR work?

[bofl]

can i report this?

http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/articles.aspx?cp-documentid=154605357

[concerned]

Reading the privacy policy on this reporting your enemies website it says:

Sussex Police Web site logs the user's IP address, which is automatically recognised by the Web Server. We do not currently employ cookies nor do we attempt to monitor the browsing behaviour of individual users through any other hidden means.

What does it mean, the IP address is automatically recognised by the Web server?

And yes this sort of thing is totally open to abuse - there goes some people's stress levels again.

[SadButMadLad]

These are the type of offences you can select from (there is an other type as well).

Speeding
Careless/Inconsiderate driving
Driving under the influence of drinks or drugs
Underage driving
Excessive noise
Driving with no licence/insurance
Driving wilst using a mobile phone
No tax disc
Vehicle condition and use
No seatbelt

All tasks that the police do, not the general public. Have we suddenly been transplated to East Germany?

The website is also one of the worst designed I've ever come across. It ticks just about every box on a checklist of what not to do, such as list all dates a single value rather than allow entry of day, month and year as seperate values. Ok if you only have a few values, but dates can go on for a long time. Imagine the list after it's been going a year. It also means that they have to add todays date to the list every day. Maintenance nightmare.

The bit about the IP address is just techno mumbo jumbo for saying that the webserver does what all webservers do - log the IP address of any computer accessing it. Of course it automatically recognises it, it's designed to. All webservers do.

[Richard Craven]

Actually, this is an issue about which I find myself disagreeing with you.

Firstly, there is the general point that on the whole people do well to report crimes to the police.

Secondly, a great deal of car crime is actually quite serious. Shoving three quarters of a ton of steel through a residential neighbourhood at 50mph is grossly anti-social and extremely dangerous. In my own neighbourhood, there seems to be an epidemic of such behaviour. I'm all for ordinary citizens being allowed to go about their private business unmolested. For this reason, I whole-heartedly support your anti-cctv campaign. For the same reason, however, I would quite like everyone to be able to walk the streets, and cross them occasionally, without being mown down by mindless thugs labouring under the misapprehension that freedom comes without responsibility.

[Chris]

I can see hundreds of people reporting various crimes such as a red and yellow car being driven erratically by a small youth wearing a hoodie with a bell (answering to the name of Noddy) without seatbelts and shouting out disablist abuse to a man referred to as 'big ears'. I'm sure others can think of other such terrible crimes and done from a public terminal who cares where the IP address is.

Honestly, they deserve all the false reports they get. Stasi state - bureacracy gone mad.

[utterlysickofit]

I thank goodness I'm not young. I dread to think how bad things are going to get in this cesspit of a country.
What happens if the car has been stolen and owner not aware?
When did the people with the lowest i.q's get to take over the Country?

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