Author Topic: license plates  (Read 2244 times)

Offline whome

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license plates
« on: May 13, 2008, 02:36:53 PM »
Anyone know a place to find non-general info about license plate number storage, such as:
How is the database set up; one large combined network or just smaller divisions (for each state?)
Do cops/HP access the same database the DMV maintains or do they use a seperate database?
How, technically, do cops/HP access the database (what is the authentication involved, if any?)
etc etc etc...

Offline rbcp

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Re: license plates
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2008, 03:01:50 PM »
Do cops ever do license plate checks over their radios anymore?  I used to hear them to that all the time.  They'd call in a plate to dispatch, then dispatch would radio back with the car's make and model and info about the owner.  I bet the cops that ride bikes can do that since they obviously don't have laptops with them.  With a ham radio you might be able to impersonate a cop and get them to run a plate for you.

Offline N3gativ3sanity

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Re: license plates
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2008, 03:17:56 PM »
The program the DMV uses to store most if not all of their information is written in BASIC... Just some useless trivia, I guess. It really doesn't help anyone with anything.  :-\
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Offline Zazen

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Re: license plates
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2008, 04:27:18 AM »
Do cops ever do license plate checks over their radios anymore?  I used to hear them to that all the time.  They'd call in a plate to dispatch, then dispatch would radio back with the car's make and model and info about the owner.  I bet the cops that ride bikes can do that since they obviously don't have laptops with them.  With a ham radio you might be able to impersonate a cop and get them to run a plate for you.

They do that all the time where I live. I hear a lot of "my computer is down, can I have a 10-52 on <plate>". When they do drivers license numbers I sometimes hear SSNs.

Offline whome

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Re: license plates
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2008, 12:07:46 AM »
Interesting stuff.
I've found that the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) contains a lot of information besides license plate numbers, like investigative details, wanted/missing/convicted persons, stolen property info., etc. The database is secured by alarms, encryption and passwords (of course.)

Around here the cops still use radio to call in plate numbers but they switched entirely to digital communications so regular scanners don't work at all anymore.