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Teslas are notable for being giant rolling surveillance devices, decked out with cameras and sensors that capture a huge amount of information about what’s happening all around them. In recent years, cops have begun using the EVs’ large data troves to assist with investigations. In fact, they’ve gotten so used to deputizing the vehicles that they’ve effectively begun stealing them (temporarily, at least) to obtain the digital evidence inside.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that police in Oakland, California, and other places, have been obtaining warrants that allow them to tow Teslas that may have been parked within close proximity to local crimes. In many cases, police will get the driver’s permission before they access the data inside the vehicles. However, on rare occasions, when police feel the information needs to be gotten quickly, they will simply use a court-ordered warrant to tow the vehicle and empty it of its necessary evidence.
The Chronicle reports that the warrant-and-tow method has been used by Oakland police in at least three instances over the past two months. The cars’ external cameras, paired with its sophisticated network of sensors, can prove particularly helpful in solving cases. In one recent case in the city, a woman was shot and killed after a group of men pulled guns on one another and began shooting. Police took advantage of video recorded by a nearby Tesla to aid their investigation. Ultimately, two men were arrested several weeks later and charged with murder, the newspaper reports.
It makes a lot of sense that in a world where pretty much everything is a computer, police would treat cars the same way that they’d treat any other internet-connected device, nabbing the contents in much the same way they’d retrieve the contents of a social media account.
Gizmodo reached out to the Oakland Police Department for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The privacy threat posed by Elon Musk’s cars has been obvious for quite some time. Several years ago, China banned Teslas from being anywhere near certain government buildings or personnel for fear that the vehicles could siphon critical data and send it back to the U.S. Last year, it became apparent that Tesla employees were watching and sharing users’ private videos for their own amusement. The cars have also been used to arrest people in connection with a wide variety of crimes, from theft to hate crimes to road rage incidents.
