LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Automatic license plate readers (ALPR) are cracking down on crime in Henderson. The Henderson Police Department just added dozens of them (54) at major intersections and has them in some of their patrol cars (18). Monday, HPD met with FOX5 to explain what the cameras are looking for.
“Typically, a patrol officer when they are driving down the road and they want to run a license plate on a vehicle, they would have to get on the radio call it in to dispatcher and they would run the information and if the vehicle was on the hot list or in the system as a stolen vehicle, then the dispatcher would respond back. This automates that to where the officer is driving down the street or a vehicle passes a location that has a fixed ALPR system, it automatically reads that information and if the plate is on that hot list, it will automatically notify our dispatch and notify the officer,” explained Lt. Tony Niswonger, Division Commander of Investigative Services Division for the Henderson Police Department.
The software checks plates against a “hot list” looking for stolen cars, stolen plates, vehicles linked to criminal activity, or missing and endangered people.
“If we have a subject of interest that is wanted in a homicide for example, we can enter associated vehicle into the system…If that plate happens to populate in the system, it is going to alert that officer,” Lt. Niswonger described.
As for privacy concerns, the license plate readers only focus on license plates and data is only stored temporarily. The readers do not provide surveillance on the individuals inside the vehicle.
“The data is purged after a certain amount of time if it is not deemed to be worthy of a criminal case or a civil case,” Lt. Niswonger revealed.
HPD reports, “The data captured by the ALPR unit itself is entirely anonymous. Officers can only identify the registered owner of a vehicle by querying a separate, secure state government database of vehicle license plate records, which is restricted, controlled, and audited.”
Even if they get a hit off a plate reader, an officer won’t automatically stop a car until they verify the accuracy of the info with dispatch.
The cameras can be relocated as needed. HPD received a grant from the state and local fiscal recovery funds to expand their automatic license plate reader system. HPD has been using the technology in a limited capacity since April of 2011.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
