NH Director of State Police in favor of random searches, Gov't databases

[d_goddard]

Colonel Booth is the Director of NH State Police.
He testified today in the House Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee, in favor of SB41.
To give you an idea about the nature of the bill, Col. Booth was one of half-a-dozen public servants who testified in favor. The only people to testify against were myself, and Rep. Neal Kurk.

In his testimony, Col. Booth said, quote, "random running of plates is tremendously helpful" in police work. He cited, as an example, a case where an officer noticed the driver of a car "looking at him frequently." The officer decided to run the person's license plates, and lo and behold, the owner of the car was wanted for armed robbery, and was apprehended.

Col. Booth also said that every time a law enforcement officer "runs" a plate, an NH State database records informatin such as the date and time, town, and plate that was requested. He testified that this data is also copied to a separate FBI database. He said that there is no automated system in place to check for abuses, though "manual auditing" is sometimes done. He verified that the system had been abused in some cases.

Col. Booth took credit for instituting the State Police Online Telecommunications System (SPOTS) system, a database  that Law Enforcement may use to query individual citizen's records. Future plans for integrating this database with others in the State of New Hampshire is located at:
http://www.nh.gov/safety/infotech/initproj.html

Rep. Kurk asked the committee to weigh the benefit of cases where the database was helpful to society (catching armed robbers) versus the cost to society (implementing an Orwellian police state)

Other State Police database-related projects that may be of interest are listed at:
http://www.nh.gov/safety/infotech/justice.html

Note that Col. Booth's position is elected; the term of the office of Director runs through March 2010.

[Dreepa]

Note that Col. Booth's position is elected; the term of the office of Director runs through March 2010.

Are you sure it is elected?  Or is it just appointed by the Gov with the Councilors giving the yeah or nay.

[d_goddard]

Note that Col. Booth's position is elected; the term of the office of Director runs through March 2010.

Are you sure it is elected?  Or is it just appointed by the Gov with the Councilors giving the yeah or nay.

Good point -- I'm not sure. I just assumed it was elected because the State website said when his term ends.
Since you mention it, it would probably make sense for the post to be appointed by the Exec Council.