By Police1 Staff
DES MOINES, Iowa — Police are taking a closer look at cop car technology that automatically reads license plate numbers on passing vehicles.
The Des Moines Register reports that local law enforcement officials activiated red-light cameras and mobile automated speed enforcement just this month, and they believe the license plate recognition system could help officers find stolen cars and suspects.
Assistant Police Chief David Lillard says that every time a license plate associated with a wanted person passed by a cruiser with the recognition system installed, an alert would sound.
The Police department has secured permission from the City Council to install the system in two cars. One patrol vehicle will receive two cameras and a parking enforcement unit will have four installed. Each camera will read plates coming from a different direction and then store the information it takes in.
The stored data could come in handy for locating kidnapped children. Once the Amber Alert goes out, police could scan through their records to determine whether the wanted vehicle had passed them by earlier that day.
The cost would be about $40,000 for the first two cars and their equipment, said Police Capt. Doug Harvey.
“We want to see how well it works, how useful it is,” Lillard said.
The next step is to research available units, select a vendor and then meet again with the City Council for final approval.