By Michael Frazier
Newsday
NASSAU, N.Y. — Though trained to be on the lookout for stolen vehicles, one Nassau police officer on routine patrol may not have noticed, without a little electronic backup, the white van traveling in Jericho.
The digital license-plate reader -- two infrared cameras mounted atop the cruiser -- belted out an alarm alerting Highway Patrol Officer Gregory Celentano that the van was reported stolen.
Using the device led to two arrests Wednesday and the recovery of the van reported stolen Aug. 14 out of Suffolk County, police said.
The readers “greatly enhances the capability of a police officer to be able to find stolen vehicles and those that have been suspended or have revoked registrations,” said Insp. John Hunter, commanding officer of the Highway Patrol Bureau.
The reader scans between 15 to 25 plates per second, police said.
Images of the plate numbers are sent to a database in the car trunk and compared to a list of vehicles wanted for various crimes, traffic violations and reported stolen cars. The cameras, which work like supermarket scanners, can record plates of moving or stopped cars.
Police said Celentano was traveling east on the Long Island Expressway at Exit 41 about 6:55 p.m. when the reader got a hit on the van, also traveling east. He pulled over the van and arrested Nicholas F. Savino, 23, of 195 Hammond Rd., Centereach, and Joseph P. Chiarelli, 31, of 271 Sagamore Hills Dr., Port Jefferson Station.
Chiarelli was charged with third-degree criminal possession of stolen property. He also had a white powder believed to be heroin, police said, and was also charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Savino was charged with two counts of third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, uninsured motor vehicle and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
Chiarelli and Savino both pleaded not guilty Thursday in First District Court in Hempstead. Neither could be reached after the hearing.
Chiarelli was ordered held on a bail of $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash, while Savino received a bail of $5,000 bond or $3,000 cash.
Nassau has at least one reader for each of its eight precincts. Two are also used in the Highway Patrol unit, Hunter said.
Other law enforcement agencies on Long Island, including Suffolk police, use readers. Though nationwide the number of agencies using the device is growing, readers have been used for years in Europe.
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