It's for your own good. Really.

USA Today for April 27 reports that Manalapan, Florida, one of the nation's wealthiest towns,

will soon have cameras and computers running background checks on every car and driver that passes through.

Police Chief Clay Walker said cameras will take infrared photos recording a car's tag number, then software will automatically run the numbers through law enforcement databases. ...

Next to the tag number, police will have a picture of the driver, taken with another set of cameras - upgraded versions of the standard surveillance cameras already in place. ...

"Courts have ruled that in a public area, you have no expectation of privacy," said Walker, one of 11 sworn officers who protects Manalapan's 321 residents.

First thought: Just because it might be legal doesn't mean it's a good idea or a decent thing to do.

Second thought: Just because you can be observed in a public place should not mean that a computerized record of where you were when is proper.

Third thought: I wonder what Chief Walker would say if someone started following him around all day long, videotaping every moment he was in public, justifying it On the same "no expectation of privacy" basis?

Final thought: Slippery slope, slippery slope.