NYPD to photograph all vehicles in Manhattan

City would photograph every vehicle entering Manhattan and sniff out radioactivity

USA Today

The New York City Police Department wants to photograph the license plate of every vehicle that enters Manhattan, according to The New York Times.

The paper says Operation Sentinel would include radiological scanning at the bridges and tunnels that link the island to New Jersey and other parts of the city.

"Data on each vehicle — its time-stamped image, license plate imprint and radiological signature — would be sent to a command center in Lower Manhattan, where it would be indexed and stored for at least a month as part of a broad security plan that emphasizes protecting the city’s financial district," the paper says, paraphrasing a police spokesman.

The Times says police officials were inspired by the surveillance system in London. They hope to have their program in place by 2010.

"A major challenge is to develop technology to discern the radiological signature of vehicles across several lanes at a toll plaza, where many enter at once, and to have the ability to align that data with the correct closed-circuit image and license plate," the paper says.

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