The Brits never cease to amaze me...

[commoner]

All I'm prepared to say on this subject is in the form of a question. Name one government IT project that actually works properly & is not subject to abuse. http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024851,39131431,00.htm?PROCESS=show&ID=20050665&AT=39131431

lol...that is the trouble I can't......but there has to be a first time for everything. maybe this is it....commoner

[Souichiro]

In Holland every person from the age of 14 and upwards is required to be able to show some kind of legal ID whenever asked... you will get fined If you don't have one... the only time they check is when you ghet pulled over or stuff like that or If you don't have a proper train ticket and stuff like that..

[ozzy72]

The test interviewer was female

A friend of mine had a similar experience many years ago when he left the Paras and went off to join the South African Army. He had an interview with a female psychologist and she asked him if he'd ever shot and killed a man. My friend said "Yes!" so she asked him "What was your first reaction?"
"I'm a good shot"
"Did you see the body up close?"
"Yes"
"What did you think then?"
"What a bloody good shot I am"

[Craig.]

A friend of mine had a similar experience many years ago when he left the Paras and went off to join the South African Army. He had an interview with a female psychologist and she asked him if he'd ever shot and killed a man. My friend said "Yes!" so she asked him "What was your first reaction?"
"I'm a good shot"
"Did you see the body up close?"
"Yes"
"What did you think then?"
"What a bloody good shot I am"

classic

[Chris_F]

personally Omag might think it strange but most people (or at least many ) are dead against this..they believe it infringes their civil rights and are terrrified that "Big Brother" will be watching their every move................

.......never mind that it helps in ways similar to your example and many other ways. too......."we must keep our civil rights intact at all costs."

It amazes me that a citizenry which apparently accepts police photorecon in just about every aspect of their lives, which accepts lisence plate tracking and photo-radar speeding tickets, and survelance cameras on every corner, would choose ID cards as a pivotal civil rights issue.

I'm all for civil rights, and I'm all for allowing people to wander the streets without the need to cary ID with them.  But I wouldn't draw the line at ID cards.  Take away that stupid police survalence stuff too.  The police should assume that the citizens around them are innocent until they prove themselves otherwise, and there's no reason to snap a picture of the plate of an innocent driver and search it against a database looking for things amiss.

Once facial recognition technology comes I'm sure the police will be using that to check every person as they walk through every public place to make sure everyone is doing the right thing.  Orwellian nightmares start long before governments hand out ID cards.

[Chris_F]

[quote]Seriously though.. In the U.S.

[Chris_F]

Hell, when I applied for the Sheriff's Dept. back in the late 70's. You had to take a psychological test and some of the questions were hilarious. Like, do you have both your big toes? I responded, "Ummm, let me check, Yes." Then do you have both your testicles?....lmao....the tester looked at me and said, "Don't even go there." The test interviewer was female......

A good answer would have been:

"you're only supposed to have two?!?!"

[Romulus111VADT]

A friend of mine had a similar experience many years ago when he left the Paras and went off to join the South African Army. He had an interview with a female psychologist and she asked him if he'd ever shot and killed a man. My friend said "Yes!" so she asked him "What was your first reaction?"
"I'm a good shot"
"Did you see the body up close?"
"Yes"
"What did you think then?"
"What a bloody good shot I am"

That was one of many questions she asked me. I told her that in the context of war and in the kill or be killed. I felt really nothing other than, better him then me or my one of my men, I win.  :o

A good answer would have been:

"you're only supposed to have two?!?!"

Several of my sarcastic remarks annoyed the interviewer and she got got a bit huffy and asked me what type of idiot I thought she was. I responded, "I wasn't aware that there was more than one type."  ;D

[Tweek]

[quote]I'm all for civil rights, and I'm all for allowing people to wander the streets without the need to cary ID with them.

[Hagar]

I'm pretty sure that you actually have to do something wrong (e.g. speeding past the camera) before the police will check the details behind your number plate. They don't just sit there looking for people to tell off!

I'm not at all confident of that. :-/ Who knows what they get up to?

From Omag's original topic this is an automatic machine used on a random basis. The main snag with all this automatic surveillance is that it only affects law-abiding motorists driving legally taxed & insured vehicles registered at the DVLA. If the vehicle is stolen or fitted with stolen number plates both it & the driver are untraceable.

[Ivan]

The officers present a new system, a sort of cameravan that stands along the road or in a patrolcar. It takes pictures of the passing vehicles and checks their status by tracing the license-plate. Fantastic stuff, in an instant the officers receive informations about the owner, possible warrants, insurrance and tax-status... I was impressed...

Same stuff as the dutch 'catchken'

From Omag's original topic this is an automatic machine used on a random basis. The main snag with all this automatic surveillance is that it only affects law-abiding motorists driving legally taxed & insured vehicles registered at the DVLA. If the vehicle is stolen or fitted with stolen number plates both it & the driver are untraceable.

In the UK they are kind enough to check the drivers ID. in holland they just send you the fine, or you get a visit by the cops.

[Hagar]

Same stuff as the dutch 'catchken'

In the UK they are kind enough to check the drivers ID. in holland they just send you the fine, or you get a visit by the cops.

What Omag is talking about appears to be a new gadget,  not Gatsos (automatic speed cameras). Speeding fines are sent in the post just as in Holland. You could actually be caught several times by the same Gatso camera over several days & only find out in a couple of weeks time. I don't see how they can claim that's a deterrent. :-/ It's a licence to print money.

[Mushroom_Farmer]

Some states are putting bar codes on license plates, allowing police to scan thousands of plates per hour whether on the road or in your own driveway. As the plates are scanned they are cross-referenced to the owner for any wants or warrants.

[eno]

I'm not at all confident of that. :-/ Who knows what they get up to?

From Omag's original topic this is an automatic machine used on a random basis. The main snag with all this automatic surveillance is that it only affects law-abiding motorists driving legally taxed & insured vehicles registered at the DVLA. If the vehicle is stolen or fitted with stolen number plates both it & the driver are untraceable.

The automatic number plate recognition system is the newest weapon in the police armoury ...... as for it only affecting the law-abiding citizen .... as long as the car is taxed ... insured .... not stolen and the registered owner/driver have the appropriate licence there is no problem.  As soon as a car is reported stolen it goes on the database and can be picked up by this system. As soon as your tax or insurance expires it goes on the system. You no longer have 7 days to produce documents your car is impounded and can only be retrieved by paying the fine, getting the tax/insurance and paying the storage fees, which increase daily. If none of the above happens the car is crushed. The same applies if the driver is unlicenced or disqualified.

It finally gives the police teeth against the uninsured etc which should give anyone who drives within the law cause to celebrate.

[Hagar]

It finally gives the police teeth against the uninsured etc which should give anyone who drives within the law cause to celebrate.

This is all fine in theory but practice often works out somewhat different. You obviously have more confidence in the police than me.

I think this is what we're talking about. http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-policing/technology-equipment/automatic-plate-recognition/