That's true - within the bounds of expected police resource usage. We all expect enough "probable cause" for a police officer's superior to approve dedicating sufficient manpower to do that.
I'm less certain that "society is in agreement" with police ANPR systems hoovering up ~1000 number plate records per shift without any "probably cause" and archiving that time/location data permanently. I know it's happening - but mostly because people don't know about it, rather than because most people think it's OK…