Guess the Missing Word?

Here's the full story. 

To no one's surprise, the police chief extolls the virtues of having the citizens of his city being watched by his officers 24/7/365. He says the cameras have solved crimes. 

But there is a word we don't ever see in the story: "warrant."  

The police chief:  He said Lee's Summit police have used the cameras to assist in homicide, robbery and child exploitation cases and said they recently helped to locate a child who was the subject of an Amber Alert.

They get warrants routinely in "homicide, robbery and child exploitation" cases. Can they get them to track people or autos with the cameras? Of course, they can. If they have time to get out an Amber Alert, they can get a warrant. 

Since this was published, the number of police people accused is 70+.

Think back to the lockdowns during COVID. Did you go out when you technically weren't supposed to? Chances are you did. I certainly did, one time to go out as a storm spotter. Would you have wanted your every move tracked? Think about all of the ways this can be misused! There are already dozens (at least) of examples of misuse of the cameras. Some officers have been charged with felonies in connection with the cameras. 

We need to get rid of them or, failing that, put strong penalty measures in place for misuse. And, misuse includes using them without a warrant except when tracking, say, a hit and run driver immediately after an accident. But, even then, to use the evidence against the driver, a warrant would still need to be obtained. 

Otherwise, we are on the road to becoming China or North Korea. Really.