By Lisa Beisel
The Capital
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The parked 1995 Oldsmobile looked normal enough as it sat on Captains Circle on Thursday afternoon. The maroon sedan was a little rusty, a little worn and quite nondescript.
But a small machine inside an Annapolis police cruiser knew better. That car had problems: no insurance, bad registration and the Maryland State Police wanted it impounded.
Cpl. Duane Daniels, a 19-year veteran of the Annapolis Police Department, was happy to oblige.
In a few minutes, he stripped the car of its tags and had it towed, thanks to the tip from his electronic partner.
Annapolis police recently acquired a license plate reader, which allows officers to find stolen cars, expired and suspended registrations and insurance violations. So far, officers think it’s having an impact, especially when used in high-crime areas.
The unmarked car used by the department has a box-like camera mounted on either side of the trunk lid. They link to a laptop mounted inside the car.
The cameras quickly scan cars on either side of the police car - whether they are moving or parked - and feed the images into the computer.
Inside, the computer recognizes the letters and checks with the Motor Vehicle Administration to see if the car has any violations.
If not, the coast is clear. The machine beeps, the license number flashes yellow, and the officer keeps driving.
But it’s obvious when all is not well. Siren noises alert on cars with violations, and the plate number flashes red on the screen.
When the officer comes across a stolen car, the laptop sounds like a machine gun.
The first time it happened, the noise startled Cpl. Daniels.
“I thought someone was taking shots,” he recalled, laughing.
The laptop won’t stop making the noise until the officer acknowledges it.
It’s the cue for the officer to pull over the vehicle if it’s moving, or to start towing procedures if there is a pick-up order, as in the case of the maroon Oldsmobile.
State police issue a pick-up order if the car has persistent problems, like numerous insurance violations.
Cpl. Daniels checked with dispatch to verify that the car was wanted on a pick-up, took the plates off the car and watched the tow company drive off with it.
The cars get towed to Mason’s. Owners can pay a fine and get the car back, but they can’t drive it without the tags, and they can’t get the tags until all the problems are settled with the MVA.
The man who’s credited with bringing the technology to Annapolis is Bob Emory, who has been with the city Police Department for 47 years, including 32 years as an officer. Now he works in the community services section and specializes in vehicle-theft prevention.
The department purchased the equipment in June and trained seven officers earlier this month. That way, there always is at least one person able to use it at any given time.
The recorder and the accompanying equipment cost about $30,000, he said. The Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council gave the city a $12,000 grant and the rest of the funding came from the city’s vehicle forfeiture fund, Mr. Emory said.
In 2007, there were 168 vehicles reported stolen in Annapolis and police made 122 recoveries.
From January to June, 75 cars were stolen and 40 were recovered.
“Hopefully, this license plate recorder will help us decrease vehicle thefts and increase recoveries,” he said.
The machines are tapped into the Motor Vehicle Administration database, which updates twice per day.
Because Annapolis has such a small department, it’s important that the tool saves valuable time and allows officers to do more with less. In time, Mr. Emory hopes the equipment pays for itself and that the department could get an additional license plate reader.
The city is one of many departments throughout the country that use this kind of technology. Anne Arundel County has been using license plate readers since late 2005.
The city’s reader, the Mobile Plate Hunter 900, can scan 1,500 license plate numbers and images per minute, including plates from all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and many Arabic characters, according to the company Web site.
It can read plates from parked and moving vehicles across up to four lanes of traffic, day or night, in any weather. The reader also can capture images when the cruiser is traveling at high speeds.
Though city police only have been using the reader for a few weeks, it has been very popular among officers.
“Officers love it. It’s a major tool to use,” Cpl. Daniels said.
Logistically, it doesn’t make sense to drive around and call in every car in a parking lot to see if there are violations. Checking a tag the old-fashioned way could take up to five minutes if dispatchers are busy with other calls. It’s a low priority, Cpl. Daniels explained.
But using the tool, an officer can cover a whole parking lot in a matter of minutes.
Officers still confirm what the computer says with a dispatcher before making a traffic stop or towing the car.
It’s not always easy to tow a car immediately. Recently, Cpl. Daniels had to tow the car of a Towson man who was visiting City Dock. The man had no other way home.
“You’ve got to feel something for people, especially when they’re traveling,” he said. Sometimes he wishes he could just issue a warning and let the driver go. But if there’s a pick-up order on the car, he can’t.
In other ways, it’s easy to see how getting people with these kinds of violations off the road is important.
“If I’ve got to pay my insurance, you’ve got to pay yours, too,” he said.
Though the system’s main goal is to find stolen cars, finding cars with other violations also leads to arrests.
Cpl. Daniels recalled a situation in Robinwood where the system alerted him to a car that was wanted by Maryland State Police for pick-up. He ran a check on the driver’s license and it turned out her license was suspended and she was wanted on a warrant from Calvert County.
“That’s what you call a good hit,” he said.
Officers already have some favorite spots where they use the cameras frequently.
“We use it especially in high-crime areas to see if we come across any stolen cars,” Cpl. Daniels said.
Sometimes they just sit inside a public housing community and wait for stolen cars to drive in.
“You’d be shocked how many roll in,” he said. “We’ve been taking cars over there left and right,” he said.
Copyright 2008 Capital Gazette Communications, Inc.