The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

A policeman testified: The "Hawk's Eye" system stores information on all vehicles indefinitely - Walla! news

2021-03-19T08:40:35.098Z


Police refuse to disclose information about the smart camera system that is not regulated by law, but testimony in court reveals that "all the passages of the same vehicle ever captured" can be found in it. Two cases that were born as a result of the system, and recently ended in a credit, indicate the problematic nature of its operation


  • news

  • News in Israel

  • Criminal news and law

A police officer testified: The "Hawk's Eye" system stores information on all vehicles indefinitely

Police refuse to disclose information about the smart camera system that is not regulated by law, but testimony in court reveals that "all the passages of the same vehicle ever captured" can be found in it.

Two cases that were born as a result of the system, and recently ended in a credit, indicate the problematic nature of its operation

Tags

  • Hawk-Eye

  • Israel Police

  • Traffic cameras

  • Speed ​​cameras

Daniel Dolev

Friday, 19 March 2021, 10:29

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on WhatsApp

  • Share on general

  • Share on general

  • Share on Twitter

  • Share on Email

0 comments

Collection of information is almost unlimited.

Traffic cameras (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The "Eye of the Hawk" system, the police database operated without the series in the law, stores information almost indefinitely, according to testimony recently given by a central MMR investigator. This means that the police can check where every vehicle has been in Israel in recent years, without a court order.



The "Hawk's Eye" is a system of smart cameras that can read license plates in their area, compare license numbers to predefined databases such as the database of stolen vehicles, or check if the person registered as the vehicle owner is needed for questioning - and alert a police officer in real time. Keeps records of all the vehicles that have passed in front of it, so that when a suspicion related to a particular vehicle arises, it is possible to check where it has traveled in the past, thus creating a database of unsuspecting civilians, just in case their vehicle is involved in a future offense.

Read more on the subject

  • The Association for Civil Rights contacted the police: "Stop using the hawk eye system"

  • Following the Walla!

    NEWS: Court demands to regulate the use of "Hawk's Eye"

  • Walla!

    NEWS: Police hold a confidential database of civilian movements

  • Due to the growing demand for effective treatment of pain, without side effects: B-Cure laser in a special operation

"We can re-interrogate all the passages of those vehicles."

Traffic camera (Photo: Reuven Castro)

Police refuse to disclose information about the system, and one of the big missing is how long the vehicle records have been kept.

Despite this, fragments of information are occasionally discovered when the police seek to use evidence collected through the system, and are forced to testify about it in court.

This is what happened recently when Sergeant Major Danny Lovell from the Central District Central Unit came to testify in a murder case being conducted in the Central District Court in Lod.



"Since this is a computerized system, some cuts can be made within the system itself, so it can also lead to all passages. That have ever been absorbed, or for a long time, on Israeli roads, "Lubel explained," for that matter, both by hour, by type.

There are a lot of options. "He went on to say," We can re-interrogate all the passages of those vehicles. "

The reports revealed the truth - and led to acquittal

Two recent acquittals in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court reveal the problems with using the system.

The first case occurred in early 2019, when police stopped K.'s vehicle for inspection in the area of ​​the promenade in Tel Aviv.

According to one of the police officers, a "strong smell of the substance suspected of being a drug" wafted from the vehicle, and he informed K. that they were going to search the vehicle.

The search found about 45 grams of cannabis, three cell phones and about NIS 3,000 in cash.

K. was arrested and charged with possession of drugs other than for personal consumption.



Upon filing the indictment, the investigation materials in the case were handed over to K.'s defense attorney, Adv. Aviran Asban. He noticed that a line and a half had been blacked out in the report of one of the police officers. The police issued a confidentiality certificate for the same part. Intelligence, or in order not to reveal police practices.



Asban petitioned the court to hear the case and asked to find out the blackened lines. Judge Dana Amir accepted the request, and what was revealed was that a camera of the "hawk's eye" was placed in front of the police checkpoint. A warning about intelligence information linking K. to drug offenses, and that a search should be conducted on him.

The search was declared illegal, the evidence was disqualified - and the defendant wins.

Traffic camera (Photo: Reuven Castro)

K.'s claim was that the system's instruction to the police to conduct a search was illegal, since the law allows a search without a warrant only if there is an element in the vehicle that an offense was committed shortly before.

The hawk's eye alert, he said, did not meet that condition since it had not been from the days before the incident.



The police preferred to avoid a decision, and withdrew the indictment against K., clarifying that "there is no return of the indictment in this case because of any known position on the LPR (Ein Hawk) system, its operation or legality, as raised by the defense."



The other case also dealt with a vehicle that was stopped at a police checkpoint, and after a search, drugs and punches were found in it.

This time, too, the police claimed that they conducted a search of the vehicle because of "a strong smell of drugs", but that the action report of one of them read: "Detention of report (investigation required)." This comment in the report led Judge Eitan Kornhauser to determine that there was a real difficulty Accept the officer's version, and that the officers had no reasonable basis to suspect that M. was in possession of any drugs or any prohibited object.He ruled that the search was illegal, disqualified the evidence seized in it, and acquitted the defendant.

"Serious constitutional defect"

Adv. Aviran Asban (Photo: Osnat Rom)

Defense Attorney K., Attorney Asbn, said: "The interest of my client indicates that the system Hawk-Eye is used for inhibiting people and searching for the bodies and their vehicles on the basis of intelligence information, while the police are hiding defendants in the fact the use of the system."



He added: "The use of the system constitutes a serious constitutional defect involving the action of the hawk's eye, without legal authority and while circumventing the legal arrangements that govern the criminal proceedings.

In addition, the secrecy surrounding the use of the Hawk's Eye system violates the right of defendants to a fair trial.

Although my client's case ended in acquittal, in my estimation there are thousands of other cases in which this system was used and the police managed to hide it from other defendants. "

More on Walla!

Following the exposure of Walla!

NEWS: Petition to the High Court against the widespread use of the hawk eye system

To the full article

The Israel Police responded: "The use of various police systems in policing activities has led to the prevention of criminal and terrorist incidents, the arrest of criminals, the decipherment of crimes and the sending of many criminals convicted over the years to grievances." "The defendants were not convicted for reasons related to the human and evidentiary factor or to technological aspects. The Israel Police operates and will continue to operate legally with the variety of tools and means at its disposal to enforce the law and protect the public, its safety, property and security."



Regarding the testimony of Brigadier General Lubel, the police stated that "the Israel Police does not intend to address methods and measures that help maintain the safety and security of the public.

At the same time, we emphasize that these methods and measures are implemented in accordance with the law, case law and guidelines of the appropriate parties and under their supervision. "

  • Share on Facebook

  • Share on WhatsApp

  • Share on general

  • Share on general

  • Share on Twitter

  • Share on Email

0 comments

Source: walla

All news articles on 2021-03-19

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.