Bay Area cops are getting a new Siri-type tool for fighting sideshows
sfgate.com
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They can’t be reactive and produce the required response to address the core issues, because they need lots of cops. Drones help, but even with drones predicting time/location will lead to a better outcome with regard to tracking than being reactive will.
My gut reaction to a network of cameras that can track people's movement whether or not there's any cause to believe they've done something wrong is ... that's creepy and we should put laws in place to stop it.
But with a microphone network that's looking for the actual evidence of the crime itself (noises from a sideshow), and isn't in general capturing identifying info, this seems much more reasonable, even if it is broad surveillance. But a key question is, if these mics are rolled out initially to listen for gunshots, and can be updated to listen for side-shows, then what else will they be used for in the future?
Amusingly/depressingly (from Wikipedia):
> Remarking on these privacy concerns, in 2015 then-NYPD commissioner William Bratton said "the advocates have to get a life." Bratton had been on ShotSpotter's Board of Directors before then, and rejoined it in 2017.
But also, even if they don't prosecute people but hold onto their cars for a month or two and then the DA decides before trial oops this isn't actually a priority, and then the police slow-walk returning the vehicles, and (as I've heard is the case) you have to retrieve it from an inconvenient location within a specific time window or else they issue a fine, and possibly it's not actually in the same condition when it's returned as when it was taken but that's hard to demonstrate ... even if no one is prosecuted, they could still have a crappy enough time to be discouraged from doing it continuously.
If we want a certain behavior to end we have to raise the cost until it does.
That apart, I have a principled objection to "administrative punishment". It catches the wicked and (many more) un-wicked alike. We should aspire to a justice system which works fairly and efficiently.
It's too bad people do this stuff illegally, rather than going to the track. Drag strips near me are like $20 for the whole night, with as many runs down the strip as your car can handle. The full tracks are pretty cheap as well, and have open race days as least weekly throughout the summer.
I'm positive that if the attendees joy of these events is car-related (as opposed to enjoying the illegality of it), a track near them can give them the same (or better) feeling.
This is also a side effect of cuts to street traffic motorcycle police staffing, with limited resources allocated elsewhere and funding starved due to seized-up local politics and police mistreatment of citizens. People sometimes now just disregard red lights in the Bay Area as the chances of a traffic cop seeing them do so are so close to zero as to make it a safe bet.
I generally loathe the idea of increasing policing but it’s either that or automated camera enforcement with plate readers, since we can’t trust ourselves to be sensible about it.
But as others have pointed out to me, it seems these may be more of a counter-culture/party type thing than a purely car thing. I was looking at it from the wrong perspective.
Sonoma Raceways - 103dB at 50ft.
Thunderhill Raceways - 103dB, mufflers required.
Laguna Seca - 90dB, with rare exceptions.
Antioch - 95dB at 100ft.
Ocean Speedway - 90dB at 100ft.
Petaluma Speedway - 95dB at 100ft, mufflers required.
Stockton 99 Speedway - 95dB, "exhaust must be turned down or out".
Measurement techniques vary; Laguna Seca is especially hostile to noise to the point that some stock exhaust systems do not comply from factory (i.e. Subaru WRX STi); Stockton 99 buries the limit deep in the fine print viewed by racers; Nascar is difficult to host as their cars can reach 130dB; enforcement may be more or less strict; it's possible there are smaller local tracks I don't personally know about that aren't listed here (I'm more familiar with North than East or South, for example).
I actually went and re-read the rules for the three tracks I most commonly go to (just in case I was mistaken/misremembering), however there are no noise provisions at all.
>some stock exhaust systems do not comply from factory (i.e. Subaru WRX STi);
Yikes! They definitely wouldn't like my WRX STI.
There's some factory Porsche setups that also cross the 90dB threshold. You could look up automated noise enforcement trials in NYC for some really upset people who found out that their factory-stock cars are illegally loud. I haven't seen anything serious stem from that yet, but I personally cannot wait for enforcement here at home just to put a stop to all the racing exhausts on the streets around here!
Your car would get kicked out of a lot of races. Even the 24 Hours of Lemons has noise limits. Most sanctioning bodies do because they don't want to get noise complaints from neighbors who moved in after the track opened.
Meanwhile less than a few miles away on Marine Drive, there are weekly street races happening at the same time. These guys spend thousands of dollars on their cars, but won't spend $100 to get actual times, and have actual timing lights, and avoid any worry about killing someone or getting arrested.
Part of me thinks that the city should help fund a free or discount drag race night just to get some of these guys interested and off the streets. It can be intimidating to bring your car to the track the first time. But I took my old car that ran 18s and had a blast! And I've done it a ton since then. You learn a lot being around other drag racers who are really tuning cars to get the most out of it.
Is that.. something the people participating want?
I kind of figured it was about doing cool shit with your car, but is it more about pissing other people off?
Being illicit & counter-culture is part of the draw.
So a voice assistant that they can use to set kitchen timers?
They could probably just have someone watch those for cars drifting in circles. Obviously this isn't perfect, but there's definitely other solutions.
In the summer with windows open, I can hear them from miles away and they last for 30-40 minutes sometimes. On Friday and Saturday the usual time is around 1-3am, too. It’s hard for me to believe the cops don’t know about them in time to do something. They probably don’t have enough officers on duty at this time of night.
I assume this tech is similarly half baked.
Is this a way to jump the queue on the emergency service phone line or something?
There should be an outreach program that goes to the community and works with the people who perform sideshows to make them less disruptive.
Narc tech won’t fix the problem it just wastes money
Even China's Supreme People's Court in 2021 banned the public use of facial recognition technology
Did they, or only non-government use? I'd presume in China, the government doesn't need to attempt to abuse the third-party doctrine, they can do all the surveillance themselves.
But when a pack of sociopaths decides to block the Bay Bridge, my desire to throw them and their cars off into the bay is tempered only by my unwillingness to pollute the water.