NYPD wants to keep track of every automobile that enters Manhattan over the 16 bridges and 4 tunnels.

The elaborate scheme is part of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative and represents an improved technique to secure the area around the World Trade Center.

The New York Police Department plans to install permanent license plate scanners at the 20 crossings into Manhattan, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The scanners will be designed to transmit information to an NYPD command center, where data would be scrutinized to determine if a certain vehicle has ever been related to any suspicious activity or current inquiry.

"We can't deny the reality that we've had two attacks at that location - two successful terrorist attacks," stated Raymond Kelly, the current Commissioner of the largest police force in North America.

The plan, which is still being revised, has already raised discontent. Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, categorized the project as "an assault on this country's historical respect for the right to privacy and the freedom to be left alone."

But according to Paul J. Browne, New York City Police Department's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, the plan has a preventive role in forestalling another terrorist attack, and would not be an inconvenient to vehicles or pedestrians.