Tesla drivers shocked as they’re suddenly towed for someone else’s crime – new law makes their cars ‘witnesses’

A CANADIAN Tesla owner was visiting the States and had to convince police not to take his EV.

Police sometimes get official warrants to tow the vehicle to secure evidence.

Getty

Getty

Police officers in California’s San Francisco Bay Area have learned that Tesla ‘s security system, or “Sentry” system, which is used to record footage of damage like a dash cam, can sometimes capture footage of crimes.

If the vehicle is in Sentry Mode, the cameras around the car will record any movement and associated audio and record it on a device in the glovebox when it’s parked and empty.

Therefore, officers like Sergeant Ben Therriault, the president of the Richmond Police Officers Association, started to view them as rolling security cameras.

“We have all these mobile video devices floating around,” he told The San Francisco Chronicle .

He’s not the only one to look at Teslas as a partner in crime .

Therriault and other officers now scan the area close to a crime for parked Teslas in hopes its security system captured valuable footage.

Most times, he said, owners are more than happy to surrender any footage – if the system was triggered and the settings were configured to capture it.

Not all owners are agreeable though, and he said he’s had to resort to a court order to secure the video.

“It’s the most drastic thing you could do,” he said.

Officer Kevin Godchaux, for instance, responded to a homicide in an Oakland hotel parking lot.

Close to the crime scene was a parked and locked Tesla, prompting him to seek the owner to secure the footage.

“I respectfully request that a warrant is authorized to seize the vehicle from the parking lot so this vehicle’s surveillance footage may be searched via an additional search warranty at a secure location,” read Godchaux’s warrant submission.

The owner was a tourist from Canada , who was shocked when he saw his car being towed.

He told police he would surrender the vehicle’s footage – if any – and his Tesla was released.

What is Tesla's Sentry Mode?

A setting paired with cameras unique to Tesla provides almost 360 security coverage.

Sentry Mode is Tesla’s unique security system that utilizes forward-facing cameras pointed to the front, rear, and through the windshield to capture any movement and associated audio.

“When enabled, your vehicle’s cameras and sensors (if equipped) remain powered on and ready to record suspicious activity around your vehicle when Model 3 is locked and in Park,” the webpage for the Model 3 handbook reads.

“Think of Sentry Mode as an intelligent vehicle security system that alerts you when it detects possible threats nearby.”

Sentry Mode requires the battery to have at least a 20% charge and will send a notification through the Tesla app if the cameras detect a lot of movement, like being shaken or towed.

The system will alert those outside of the car through the touchscreen that they may be being recorded, the headlights will pulse, and an alarm will sound.

Source: Tesla

Saira Hussain, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation specializing in government surveillance, said the police perspective of viewing Teslas as assets may unnecessarily involve citizens.

“When you have these cars on the roads that are constantly capturing information, even when they’re parked, the police can look to them as a resource,” Hussain said.

“That obviously puts third parties — people who are not involved at all — in the crosshairs of investigations.”

This year, footage from parked Teslas has helped identify burglars breaking into nearby vehicles, and murder suspects, and reveal more information on deadly crashes.

In January, Sentry footage helped identify a man who intentionally ran over an injured man and drove away.

Two months ago video from a parked Tesla helped reveal the exact details of an altercation between five people involving guns.