I may have finally found a reason to buy a Tesla....or not. The Comicle is highlighting how the police use video from nearby Teslas to help solve crimes since in "sentry mode" a parked, locked Tesla will take video all by itself. Sometimes the owner is around when the police arrive and volunteers the video as evidence. Other times when no owner appears, the police get a warrant and tow the car to get the USB drive out of it.
In recent years, Tesla camera footage has played a variety of roles in police investigations, most commonly offering evidence after crashes but also documenting crimes perpetrated on a car’s owners or identifying a burglar who enters a car. The use of court orders related to crimes that occur near a Tesla appears to be a newer wrinkle.
“When you have these cars on the roads that are constantly capturing information, even when they’re parked, the police can look to them as a resource,” said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who specializes in government surveillance. “That obviously puts third parties — people who are not involved at all — in the crosshairs of investigations.”
Similar issues have come up with self-driving cars now on the road in San Francisco and other cities, which are also equipped with sophisticated video capability, Hussain noted. But in those cases, police subpoena the tech company — typically Waymo — because it owns the cars and the data. Tesla drivers, by contrast, get served individually because they control their own camera footage.
The article implies several murders investigations may have been advanced with TeslaViewTM. When the long-awaited, cheaper Tesla comes out maybe BPD should buy one so they don't have to park a cruiser in front of the Apple store all the time. Perhaps Safeway could plant one in the parking lot to look for people poaching a space to have lunch on the Ave. Or Caltrain could put one in front of the Burlingame station to see who is living in the ADU. BHS could use it to catch graffitists. Better yet, they can all chip in to buy one and share!
Breaking news from Union Square:
Ricky Pearsall’s mother says bullet from attempted robbery missed 49ers rookie’s vital organs
49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall is recovering from gunshot wound.
Posted by: Joe | September 01, 2024 at 12:41 PM